Now director of football Barry Fry, who handles all transfer dealings at London Road, is bidding to capture the club's two targets in time for them to line up against Scunthorpe in a crunch Championship clash at London Road on Saturday.

He confirmed both players currently on their radar are with Football League clubs, but refused to give away any further details.

Fry said: "As we speak I am desperately trying to get a couple of loan deals done. They will both be with a view to permanent moves in the transfer window.

"The chairman, manager and myself had a meeting yesterday and Darragh has given us the nod to try and bring two players in.

"I can't say any more than they are both defenders in the Football League, but in an ideal world we will have them both in for Saturday.

"We have two very important home games coming up and we need to take maximum points from them. The lads at the back are not playing particularly well and we need to tighten things up.

"But it is never easy doing business at this time of the year as the other clubs involved will need to find replacements.

"It is a bit like buying a house where only one thing needs to go wrong for the entire chain to collapse."

Fry revealed Posh have taken the decision to abandon their long-term pursuit of an Arsenal youngster which stretches back to the summer. He also admitted a loan deal for a Tottenham defender failed to come to fruition.

He added: "We have waited and waited to try and get this Arsenal player in since the summer. He was the one the manager really wanted but it hasn't happened.

"Actually we have had deals agreed with both Arsenal and Tottenham for loans which have not come off for one reason or another.

"But we have now gone elsewhere. Plan A didn't come off so we are now working on Plan B and trying to bring in these other targets identified by the manager."

Posh were unsuccessful in a pursuit of Grimsby Town centre-back Ryan Bennett during the summer, being put off by a £1 million price tag branded 'ridiculous' by club officials. More recently Posh dismissed speculation linking them with Ipswich defender Gareth McAuley.

Charlie Lee threw his hat into the ring for a defensive place when putting in an excellent display for Posh Reserves yesterday afternoon.

Lee skippered the second string and scored twice during their 3-2 Totesport Combination League success over Ipswich. Shaun Batt missed that match due to flu.

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