Posh U21s to face The Tykes at Oakwell Stadium.
Peterborough United U21s return to action on Tuesday afternoon (1pm) as they face Barnsley U21s at Oakwell Stadium in the Professional Development League.
The under 21s were last in league action 10 days ago, falling to a 2-0 defeat to Birmingham City at the Weston Homes Stadium. Posh faced AFC Rushden & Diamonds in a friendly last Tuesday and were held to a goalless draw by the Northern Premier League side.
U21s Lead Professional Development Phase Coach, Ryan Semple, reflected on the friendly against The Diamonds and the importance of improving in the final third ahead of Tuesday’s game.
“We managed to get a friendly in the short break against AFC Rushden & Diamonds, which was good as I think we needed it. A few weeks ago, we had a break and that was a good opportunity to work with the players and get things, but we wanted a game last week and felt it was a decent workout in terms of minutes and things we wanted to work on.
“In terms of the result against Birmingham, we had a 10-15 minutes after the break where we weren’t good enough and we conceded the two goals. We have spoken to the players and shown them that we need to be better in the final third, the last pass, the last cross and decision-making. However, we have worked on that a lot over the week and hope for us to showcase that on Tuesday and if we can get those levels of concentration in attack and in defence, it gives you the opportunity to get a positive result.”
The Tykes are currently eighth in the table and have failed to win in their last three games, including defeats to Ipswich Town and Cardiff City, but Semple is expecting another tough test at Oakwell Stadium
“They are a really good side, have a mixture of being direct but also playing on the floor, they have plenty of pace and good power in their team. They will want to get bodies forward, which will be a positive for them but also from our point of view as we will want to exploit those areas they leave. It’s a real opportunity for us to put on a positive performance and show the work we have been doing in aspects of the game, so hopefully we can show that tomorrow.”
Forward Reuben Marshall remains unavailable ahead of the trip to South Yorkshire but could be welcomed back into training in the next week.