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City hoping for capital gains at Wimbledon
CITY of Peterborough will need player-coach Gareth Andrew to be at his goal-scoring best tomorrow as they face one of the English League East Conference’s top sides.
The reigning East Men’s League Premier A champions travel to Wimbledon for their first competitive game of 2012 and they could hardly have asked for a tougher task.
Three of the division’s top five scorers will be on show at the King’s College School Sports Ground and City must hope Andrew - who has already scored 12 goals after hitting more than 40 during last season’s title-winning campaign - can outshine Wimbledon hot-shots Ben Howes and James Osborn.
That pair have scored 20 goals between them - Howes with 11 and Osborn with nine - and their form in front of goal matched by a mean defence (they have the second best defensive record in the East Conference) City face a tough game if they are to gain revenge for a 5-4 defeat at Bretton Gate in October.
Howes (2) and Osborn were both on target for Wimbledon that day along with Simon Lanyon and Jared Treadaway - who have also scored their share of goals - so it promises to be a busy afternoon for City keeper Chris Vine.
With the weather last week putting paid to the resumption of the English League following a two-month winter break, City must hope Wimbledon are still rusty and not yet back in the groove.
Wimbledon won their last three home matches of 2011 - having started slowly when failing to win any of their opening three fixtures on their home pitch.
City have pinpointed a reduction in the number of goals they concede as being crucial to their hopes of moving up the table and tomorrow would be a good place to start.
New signing Jon Peckett, the former British international who has signed from Premier Division Beeston, is unavailable so City will have to wait for him to make his debut.
James Sharpe comes into the side with Carl Daniels not recovered from the broken nose he suffered in a friendly against high-flying Premier Division outfit Cannock two weeks ago.
Chris Porter, Joe Finding, Andrew and Scott Gilmour scored the City goals in the 5-4 defeat against Wimbledon four months ago and manager Jon Short is hopeful his side will give the hosts another tight game tomorrow.
He said: “They’re second in the table but it was a tight game at Bretton Gate earlier in the season and I don’t expect it to be any different tomorrow.
“We’re hoping to push on after an encouraging first half of the season and I’d like us to finish even higher than the fifth place we currently occupy in the table.
“We’re only four points behind Wimbledon so a win would really help us. I certainly expect it to be a close game.”
City of Peterborough squad - Chris Vine, Jonny Appleton, Sanjay Dhanani, Joe Finding, Ross Booth, Simon Shorter, Dave Appleton, Scott Gilmour, Gareth Andrew, Andy Appleton, Marcus Howard, Chris Porter, Neil Evans, James Sharpe.
ENGLISH LEAGUE EAST CONFERENCE
P W D L F A Pts
Canterbury 10 7 3 0 43 17 24
Wimbledon 10 6 2 2 34 19 20
Old Loughtonians 10 6 2 2 27 22 20
Holcombe 10 5 1 4 25 20 16
City of Peterborough 10 5 1 4 35 31 16
Indian Gymkhana 10 5 0 5 28 33 15
Teddington 10 4 2 4 27 27 14
Oxted 10 3 0 7 20 33 9
Harleston Magpies 10 2 1 7 20 35 7
Bromley & Beckenham 10 0 2 8 19 41 2
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Weather for Peterborough
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
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