Peterborough United chairman reveals players are making physical sacrifices for the club, but there's now an issue with midfielders

Earlier on Friday, Posh boss Luke Williams revealed there were players nursing ‘bangs and knocks’ after the Tuesday defeat at Barnsley, but didn’t suggest anyone was likely to miss out against Exeter.

But the latest edition of MacAnthony’s ‘Hard Truth’ podcast was released on Friday afternoon during which he disclosed Brandon Khela and Donay O’Brien-Brady are now injured. If they miss out tomorrow, there could be a Football League debut for 20 year-old Joe Andrews alongside main man Archie Collins, unless Williams moves someone else out of position.

MacAnthony also said central defender Tom Lees will be out for six weeks after injuring his calf in the pre-match warm-up at Bradford City last weekend, but he expects the 25 year-old to return sooner.

MacAnthony, who recorded the podcast on Thursday 24 hours before Williams spoke today, also revealed there are players still in action who require minor surgeries.

“We have players who are sacrificing their bodies for us,” MacAnthony said. “There are a couple of players who require minor surgeries who are still playing. They are receiving injections, but not training and therefore lacking some match sharpness.

"Every time we get some momentum something seems to happen to us. The last player we wanted to lose before the Bradford City game was Tom Lees as he’s held some young defenders together this season, but he did a jump before the ame and felt his calf pop when he landed. Tom has been told he will be out for six weeks, but knowing him it will be more like five weeks.

"The intensity the manager has brought to matches and training has broken some players, but it will continue next season because that’s the way we want to play. The problem has been the players weren’t conditioned well enough from July onwards. I’ve even paid for more help in the medical and science departments.

"We now have Brandon and Donay injured which means we only have Archie as a fit midfielder. We seem to have been missing key pieces of our team all season and it would be good to get some of the longer-term injured players back sooner as I can guarantee no-one at any team is playing 100% fit at this stage of the season. I love Harley Mills’ attitude as I know he would play on Saturday if we let him.

"Players aren’t coming back quick enough. They need to come back before it’s irrelevant.”