Interim boss calls for positivity as depleted Peterborough United travel to Stockport

Posh will travel to Greater Manchester without David Okagbue, Josh Feeney, Vernon Masara and Pat Sykut due to their international call-ups.

Harley also looks set to be without Brandon Khela through injury. He joins longer term absentees Tom O’Connor, Sam Hughes and Rio Adebisi on the sidelines.

This will present a particular headache at the back as 18-year-old Lucca Mendonca is set to be the only recognised centre-back any senior matches to his name in the squad.

Posh have not yet ruled full-back James Dornelly out from returning, but he will be assessed again on Friday.

Speaking on Thursday afternoon, Harley said: “James is getting a lot closer so we will need to see how he is tomorrow and Brandon is a little bit behind so he is a little bit less likely.”

Posh will face a Stockport side who have had an indifferent start, picking up 10 points in their first seven matches, with one win in their last four matches; albeit having played Luton, Sheffield Wednesday and Leicester in that time and beating Wigan.

Harley added: “It will be a really tough game. They are a really good team with the ball and without the ball they do press as well. We will go and try and give a decent account of ourselves. The players need to be positive. There is no reason we can’t get a good result, but it will be a tough game.

“They are excellent. I know the manager a little bit from playing against him. He had a really good team at Rochdale and now he’s doing the same at Stockport. We will really respect what they will try and do, but we will go there and try and give a big performance.

“All we can do is try really hard with what’s still left in the building and we've still got loads of good players available. It’s normal to have players away on international duty so we just have to be positive and try and create as good a performance as we can.”

It’s the first League One game since the sacking last weekend of manager Luke Williams.

Harley added: “The situation we are in is never easy for players. I’ve been there myself as a player a couple of times. You don't know how to act. Some of them will be in a tricky place because they were closer to the manager and some might not have been as close. They don’t know how to react or what’s coming next. They’ve been fine though and been working hard, while looking forward to the game on Saturday.”