BIG MATCH PREVIEW: No pressure on returning players

Striker Angol could make his first appearance of the season in tomorrow’s (November 5) first round FA Cup tie against Chesham at the ABAX Stadium (3pm kick-off), while attacking midfielder Brad Inman’s Posh debut has been pencilled in for a return in the Checkatrade Trophy tie at Barnet next Tuesday (November 8).

McCann believes there could be 30 goals between the pair in a League One season, but he is also prepared to be patient. Both have recovered from broken legs suffered in pre-season.

“It’s great to have Lee Angol back,” McCann admitted. “His mere physical presence will be a boost for us. He showed last season - his first in the league - what a great talent he is.

“But I don’t want to make the expectations on him or Brad to get too big. You look at their scoring records last season and you can see 30 goals a season between them, but they will need time to get back up to speed. Brad was one of my main summer targets so I was thrilled yo get him.

“Lee will have to earn his place as Tom Nichols and Shaquile Coulthirst have done well in recent games. They’ve had a few breaks in front of goal lately, but they earned them because of the hard work they put in.”

It’s likely Angol will start on the substitutes’ bench against Chesham. McCann won’t be resting players for the sake of it. The FA Cup is an important competition for Posh so hardman midfielder Michael Bostwick is set to play despite carrying a calf injury for the last couple of weeks.

Posh will be hot favourites to win a game against Southern Premier Division opposition. Chesham are 94 places below Posh in the Football League pyramid, but McCann is not expecting any complacency.

“Myself and Dave Farrell (under 21 manager) have watched Chesham and they are decent,” McCann added. “Chesham won at Bristol Rovers in the competition last season and after we played at Rovers last weekend, their manager was quick to warn me not to underestimate them.

“There is no chance of us doing that. The players are well aware how important the FA Cup is to this club. We want to go as far as we can and the first difficult hurdle is Chesham.

“It’s a cup final for them, but it’s also a cup final for us. We have performed poorly in the other cups this season so we want a good run in this one.

“We will be treating the game no differently to a league game. We will field the strongest possible team.

“Michael Bostwick had a few days off this week, but he’s come back looking fit and strong, He’s a very important part of how we want to play so he will be part of the selection process.

“We are carrying a couple of injuries so we might be forced into one change.”