A look ahead to Saturday’s Emirates FA Cup first round tie with Salford City at the Weston Homes Stadium (3pm).
Peterborough United welcome Sky Bet League Two side Salford City to the Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday afternoon (3pm) in the first round of the Emirates FA Cup – the second successive year the two sides have met in the competition.
The Ammies, like Posh, are in good form, particularly away from home and in Matt Smith, they have one of the countries’ deadliest strikers in front of goal at present. If the scores are level after 90 minutes on Saturday, the game will go to a replay at the Peninsula Stadium.
TEAM NEWS
Posh are without the services of goalkeeper Will Blackmore and midfielder Jeando Fuchs due to injury, but with nine substitutes available to be named, manager Darren Ferguson will have plenty of options to choose from. Winger David Ajiboye will have a late fitness test after a slight injury sustained against Tottenham Hotspur under 21s.
Malik Mothersille came through 70 minutes in that fixture and is expected to be named in the squad. Donay O’Brien-Brady, who came off the bench for his debut in midweek will be a pushing for a spot in the squad.
Salford could include former Posh defender Liam Shepherd in their squad while midfielder Matthew Lund hit a hat-trick against Manchester United’s youngsters in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday evening. They made a host of changes to their XI for that fixture with all those rested expected to return to the side.
ONE TO WATCH
Matt Smith (pictured below) slots nicely into the ‘powerful front man’ category. He has always been a handful because of his physicality but he is in a rich vein of form in front of goal at present and bagged a hat-trick in a recent win at Doncaster Rovers. Smith has netted over 100 career goals with the 34-year-old counting Fulham, Leeds United, Millwall, QPR and Bristol City as his former clubs.
FROM THE MANAGER
“Salford are managed by Neil Wood and they might have a towering front man, but they also like to get the ball down and play. They are in good form and have an excellent away record and that can sometimes happen in a season. Matt Smith is in red-hot form, so we have to cut off the supply to him. We need to play our game, we wanted a home tie, we have a home tie, now it is about getting through that tie and into the next round, but we will have to play well to do so,” Darren Ferguson said.
TICKET NEWS
Tickets are on sale at www.theposhtickets.com and via the Weston Homes Stadium Ticket Office. Salford have sold under 100 tickets and will be accommodated in the away section of the Main Stand. The Deskgo Stand is closed for this game.
POSH+
Due to the competition rules, we are unable to sell match passes domestically or overseas for this game but current Posh+ subscribers can listen to the game as part of their package with commentary from Chris Dowsett and Mark Dowling.
HEAD TO HEAD
Jack Marriott (pictured below) scored twice in the FA Cup replay success at the Peninsula Stadium last season with Ephron Mason-Clark also on target in a game that was televised live on ITV.
A FOOT IN BOTH CAMPS
Salford are managed by former Posh loanee midfielder Neil Wood (pictured below, centre, celebrating scoring for Posh in 2003), while Liam Shepherd is also in their ranks. Other players to have played for both include; Carl Piergianni, Danny Lloyd and George Boyd.
MATCH OFFICIAL
Sam Purkiss is the match referee