Next season the Peterborough United chairman wants durable players like Gaby Zakuani and rehab champions like Harley Mills

Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony insists a raft of injuries derailed the current season. He’s also been frustrated at the length of time some players have spent on the sidelines.

Posh have been without club captain Sam Hughes all season, while defenders Harley Mills, David Okagbue, George Nevett, Jacob Mendy, Tom O’Connor and Tom Lees have all missed decent chunks of the campaign as have midfielders Ben Woods and Matt Garbett. Harry Leonard is currently sidelined after a hernia operation, while another defender Carl Johnston won't play again this season after suffering a serious calf injury last weekend.

On the latest edition of his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast, MacAnthony did have words of praise for Mills and Lees for the way they attacked their rehab, while other first-teamers have won plaudits for insisting on battling through pain and discomfort.

"Injuries have derailed our season,” MacAnthony said. “There is no question about that. The amount of centre-backs to have been injured is mitigation for a lot of our problems, but for me some of them haven’t got back quickly enough, and I’m not singling anyone out here.

"We will build a durable squad next season. Durability will be a massive thing for us. We don’t want to get a sniff of anyone in pre-season saying they feel stiff or sore. We want bodies on the line and hearts and minds on the club. We want a spine of 15 players all capable of playing 40 games each.

"We will sell anyone not buying into that and win promotion without them.

"I have to praise Harley and Tom for the way they have attacked their rehab. Harley rehabilitated like a champion. He just attacked it. There was no worry about getting injured again because he wanted to get back and play. Tom has been the same which is why he will be back earlier that originally expected.

"I think some players hadn’t been injured before and didn’t want to risk getting injured again. I don’t want players seeking second opinions from agents or other physios because they feel niggles. I want them to recover properly and professionally. They have to look after themselves and remember who pays their wages.

"James Dornelly went over on his ankle in training the other day. We all thought he’d be out for a couple of weeks, but James went home and then reported back for training on the Friday ready to play at Orient the following day. It would have been easy for James to see Harley was back and that Carl Johnston could switch back to right-back, but he wanted to play and he did. That’s the mentality I want, and it came from a 20 year-old.

“David Okagbue damaged his ankle in the first-half of the Northampton game recently and looked like he should come off, but he wanted to stay on and help the team even though there was a big swelling. It’s that Gaby Zakuani approach I love to see. Dislocate your shoulder one day, force it back in and play the following day!

"Brandon Khela has been playing in pain through recent games not that you’d know. He would try and play with a broken leg.

"We will be taking a deep dive into the injuries we have suffered at the end of the season. We’ve had like four calf tears. You can’t do a lot about kicks or hernias, but we have to get past a lot of the other stuff.

"The intensity of the training since the new manager came in might have caught some players out, but that’s not on the current gaffer.

"I’m actually gutted for the manager and his staff as they have not deserved what has happened. He never panics, he is not high maintenance at all and he never goes on about missing players. He just works out who’s next in line and brings them in.”