Forget Wrexham and Wembley, the home game with Shrewsbury Town is the big one for Peterborough United, plus injury update
Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson insists the game against Shrewsbury Town is bigger than the recent battles with Huddersfield Town and Wrexham
Posh and their boss have enjoyed an outstanding week so far with a shock League One win at Huddersfield and a come-from-behind Vertu Trophy semi-final success at Wrexham. The latter win sent Posh back to Wembley for the second time in 12 months, but Ferguson has left his cock-a-hoop squad in no doubts about the importance of relegation rivals Shrewsbury Town’s visit to the Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday (3pm kick off).
The win at Huddersfield didn’t improve the Posh league position (20th) or extend the gap to the relegation places (two points), although it did bring several clubs higher in the table to within easy reach. Posh haven’t win back-to-back League One games since August when they won at Shrewsbury and Exeter City on successive Saturdays.
"The Shrewsbury game was always going to be the most important of the three games,” Ferguson stated. “We can’t influence what other teams around us are doing unless we play them which is what’s happening tomorrow. It’s a huge game for both teams. If we win we go 10 points clear of them, while they can get to within four points of us.
"Momentum can take you very quickly in either direction at this time of the season and we want to finish off a big week with a third win. Burton have shown what can happen if you win games regularly. They’ve made up a lot of ground.
"The performance as well as the result at Huddersfield gave us a lot of belief, while we showed great character to come back at Wrexham as not a lot of teams would be able to do that. It was a very happy dressing room after the game and to see the players inter-acting with the fans was pleasing, but we went back to the hotel, ate together and that was it because we all know how important the next game is.
"It will be a very different game tomorrow. We will probably have a lot of the ball, but we will be coming up against a very well organised team who will make life difficult for us. I have a lot of respect for their manager Gareth Ainsworth. His teams will always have a go right to the final whistle.”
On-loan Manchester City defender Jadel Katongo is back after a hamstring injury tomorrow, but decisions on forwards Kwame Poku and Gustav Lindgren will be left until Saturday morning. Defenders Sam Hughes and Tayo Edun were ineligible to play at Wrexham, but can expect to start tomorrow. Central defender Emmanuel Fernandez is suspended.
“I could be leaving four or five players out of the squad altogether tomorrow,” Ferguson added. “And that hasn’t happened before this season. The players who have come back into the side like James Dornelly, Mo Susoho and Brad Ihionvien have done well, while Harley Mills was very good at Wrexham. They have shown they are ready to play which is encouraging.”