Peterborough Sports boss wants more of the same, with added firepower, at Alfreton, but red card appeal has failed

Peterborough Sports defender Connor Johnson (blue) starts a three-match ban this week. Photo: James Richardson.

Sports went down 2-0 in their National League North clast at Darlington on Saturday, but played well against a team who were winning for the sixth straight game.

The defeat dropped Sport two places to 10th, just one place below Alfreton, as the city side missed top scorer Jordan Nicholson who will out until next year with a broken leg.

"We played very well at Darlington for the most part,” Dean stated. “We dealt with the big crowd (over 600) better than we did at Kidderminster, we got up the pitch well, but the difference was the finishing.

"They had three efforts on target and they scored twice and had a goal disallowed.

"We did miss ‘Nico’ obviously, but it’s just another challenge we have to overcome. We’ve found solutions to major problems in the past, admittedly not at this level, and if we can get Ky (Marsh-Brown) and Maniche (Sani) up to speed with minutes in the bank, we can cover for ‘Nico’.

"Ky did okay at Darlington consideing it was a six-hour journey for him, two in a car and then four on the coach, and it’s a much shorter trip for us tomorrow, albeit to face another good side."

Sports will be without centre-back Connor Johnson as the club’s appeal against a red card picked up in the FA Cup win over Redditch last week failed. Veteram Richard Jones will step up at Alfreton.

"We just got an email saying Connor’s appeal had been rejected,” Dean added. “There was no explanation, just a rejection.

"But to be fair Richard was very unlucky not to play at Darlington as he had been outstanding against Redditch. We just have to manage him as he’s 35 and three games in a week at this level is tough

"We’re going to Alfreton in a positive frame of mind. It’s another tough fixture, but games like this are why we worked so hard to get up to this level.”

Full-back Isaiah Bazeley will miss tomorrow’s trip because of injury. Sports are hoping new signing Kayden Williams-Lowe, a former QPR player, recovers from an ankle knock suffered against Darlington. The right back impressed on Saturday.