Peterborough United boss itching to field a new strike force and games against the likes of West Brom are ‘why we worked so hard to get promoted’

The pair have started just one game together so far this season, the 2-1 home win in the Championship against Derby County, which remains the sole competitive success for Posh this season.

It’s unlikely they will both start against West Brom in Saturday’s (August 28, 8pm) live televised match, although Marriott did get an hour into his legs in Tuesday’s Under 23 fixture.

“They will be a threat together once they get up to speed,” Ferguson insisted. “Jonson has done remarkably well to play so many minutes given how much of pre-season he missed and Jack is making good progress.

“It was important to get an hour into Jack in the under 23 game and when he came on at Preston last week he linked up well with Jonson. They combined well for a shot that Jack didn’t quite get on target, but it was encouraging.

“Jonson showed what he was all about in the two home games. He looked very strong, I’m looking forward to seeing them play together again.”

Ferguson’s plans could be scuppered by a possible suspension for Clarke-Harris as the FA have charged him for making alleged abusive comments on social media. The comments were made eight years ago.

Clarke-Harris had until yesterday (Wednesday) to respond to those charges. If found guilty he could receive a sizeable ban.

Posh will need Clarke-Harris on Saturday against a physical West Brom side who have used set-pieces and a high press effectively enough to go second in the Championship table.

“Obviously it’s going to be tough,” Ferguson added. “But we are good at home and they play in a similar way to Cardiff and look how well we played against them.

“A similar performance, but with a different ending, would do us nicely.

“They have a couple of problems (two unnamed first-team players have tested positive for Covid), but they will still have a squad full of experience and they are rightly one of the favourites to go up.

“But games like this under the lights at home and live on television are the reasons why we worked so hard to get up.

“We are looking forward to the match, although there are certain things we will need to improve.

“Defending set-pieces is one of them, but we have the players to hurt them if we stick to our plans.”

Forward Sammie Szmodics could start after coming on as a substitute at Preston last weekend.