One player back for Peterborough United as they are set to start a massive week, but there are more injury doubts ahead of FA Cup tie

Posh are in South Wales tomorrow for a first round FA Cup tie before hosting Crystal Palace in a crunch EFL Trophy tie on Tuesday (November 5, 7pm kick off) and then it’s the Cambridgeshire derby against Cambridge United in League One at the Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday, November 9 (3pm).

Posh need a point against Palace to confirm their place in the knockout stages of the Trophy. They hope to have been involved in the second round FA Cup draw the day before. Not that they are counting their chickens, especially as they are now likely to be without full-back Sam Curtis and striker Bradley Inhionvien, as well as Oscar Wallin who will be rested, at Newport. The intention to rest Ricky-Jade Jones might be abandoned in Ihionvien’s absence, although Chris Conn-Clark will be involved after recovering more quickly than expected from a shoulder injury.

Saturday’s tie will be played to a finish with extra time and penalties available if required.

Ferguson said: “The new rules probably favour the home team, but we are under no illusions about how tough the tie would be in any circumstances. Newport are a good team. They mix their their attacking play up well, but they’ve also kept clean sheets in their last two matches. They have a 6ft 9in striker (Kyle Hudlin) so the problems he could cause are obvious, but they also play into his feet as he links play up very well.

"They have nothing to lose. We all know that shocks in the first round are 100% guaranteed to happen. There is still magic in the FA Cup and they have a crowd down there who can whip up a great atmosphere. We will need to get the basics right and we will need to play very well to get a result, but it’s a competition we want to do well in.

"The game is the first in a massive week for us. We always target reaching the third round of the FA Cup at the very least and we want to go far in the EFL Trophy again. The Cambridge game will look after itself, but it would be ideal to take them on after making progress in two cups.

"Sam Curtis is a major doubt for Newport. We sent him for a scan on a thigh problem which showed no muscle damage, but he does have a severe ‘dead leg.’ Brad Ihionvien played an hour for the under 21s on Tuesday, but he looked way off it. He wasn’t moving well.

“Oscar definitely won’t be involved in this game or the Crystal Palace game so a couple of players who haven’t been playing will be involved and I might take on from the youth team.”