MATCH PREVIEW: Goal hero believes exciting times are ahead

Left-back Andrew Hughes, who scored his Posh goal in the 2-0 League One success, and his first senior goal since 2014, believes it’s vital Posh build on that impressive victory by beating Norwich City in their opening fixture in the revamped Checkatrade Trophy at the ABAX Stadium tonight (August 30, 7.30pm kick off).

Posh manager Grant McCann is expected to make a couple of changes to his starting line-up with striker Paul Taylor likely to be among those rested, but he will still field a strong team against a Norwich City side expected to include former Posh loanee Harry Toffolo.

Hughes said: “It’s important we keep the momentum going after our excellent win at MK Dons.

“It’s a different competition tonight, but winning is a great habit to get into so we will be treating Norwich as a very important match.

“The players all know our targets for this season, but we are working on a game-by-game basis. I can sense exciting times ahead at this club and if we perform on a regular basis like we did on Saturday we will not be far away at the end of the season.

“It was a proper away performance at Milton Keynes. We could have won by more goals, but we were delighted with the clean sheet.

“If we stay that solid for the rest of the season we will win plenty of games. Not many teams will win at Milton Keynes like we did. They will be up there at the end of the season for sure.

“It was a real confidence booster of a result and it was great for me to score a goal. I usually only get one a season, but I hope I can chip in with a few more this season.”

Right-back Michael Smith is away on international duty with Northern Ireland this week so he will miss tonight’s match. Hayden White will step up as long as he has recovered from the groin problem that forced him to miss the win at Mk Dons.

Vetern Mark Tyler will play in goal after Ben Alnwick’s decision yestyerday to request a transfer away from the ABAX Stadium for personal reasons.

Summer signing Ryan Tafazolli has been pencilled in to play in the centre of defence to test his recovery from a hamstring injury suffered on the opening day of the season. If White doesn’t make it, Michael Bostwick or Jack Baldwin could switch to right-back for the game to accommodate Tafazolli.

Posh and Norwich are in a group of four teams of which two will qualify for the knockout stages. MK Dons and Barnet are the other two teams and they meet at stadium:mk tonight.

If the match is a draw after 90 minutes a penalty shoot out will take place to determine a winner. The losing team will still pick up one point for the draw.

Tickets are £10 for adults/seniors/18-21s and £5 for under 18s. Executive Suite tickets (with programme included) are priced at £20 for adults and £15 for concessions.

Norwich have named their squad for night’s match. It reads: Sergi Canos, Jacob Murphy, Harry Toffolo, James Maddison, Carlton Morris, Josh Murphy, Louis Thompson, Ben Godfrey, Todd Cantwell, Ray Grant, Louis Ramsey, Michee Efete, Jamal Lewis, Benny Ashley-Seal, Joe Crowe, Glenn Middleton, Dialling Jaiyesimi, Louis McIntosh, Ebou Adams, Ben Killip, Aston Oxborough, Jake Hallett, Emersson Sambu.