Peterborough United goalkeeper Harvey Cartwright suffers fresh injury setback but Kelland Watts is ready for action

Harvey Cartwright during his only Peterborough United appearance against Stevenage in August. Photo: Joe Dent.

The Hull loanee has been back with his parent club for the past six weeks undergoing rehab for a thigh injury that has troubled him throughout the season.

On the final day of his recovery plan, however, the 20-year-old once again felt his thigh and has been sent for a fresh scan; leaving both himself and boss Grant McCann incredibly frustrated.

The only game Cartwright has appeared in for Posh is the 2-1 defeat at home to Stevenage in the EFL Trophy at the end of August. It is now not known when he is likely to return.

Ben Thompson missed Peterborough United's match against Forest Green Rovers with illness. Photo: Joe Dent.

McCann said: “We’ve had a bit of bad news on Harvey. He felt his thigh again on the last day of his rehab at Hull so he’s had a scan and we’re just waiting for the results back from that.

"It’s a bit of a kick in the teeth for us. The boy is really upset again, he just needs to get to the bottom of this problem. All the time I was at Hull, he never missed a day of training and now all of a sudden, he’s got this thigh problem. We’re hoping to get to the bottom of it and that doing so isn’t far away.”

There has been better news for McCann on the return of Kell Watts though. Watts came through his first Posh appearance, for the Under 21s against Hull on Monday, without any problems. He got a late call-up to the bench for Tuesday’s clash with Forest Green after Ben Thompson came down with an illness.

McCann remains optimistic that Watts, Thompson and Kwame Poku, who also missed Tuesday's 4-1 win, will be available for Saturday (October 15) when Posh travel to Wycombe.

When asked about his squad’s fitness issues, McCann said: “Kell came through 60 minutes very well. I had to phone him this morning as well to tell him he’d be on the bench due to the illness of Ben Thompson. He’s a great kid, a top player and he’s only going to make us stronger. He’s ready, like all the boys, there’s good competition for places.

"Kwame was just a precaution, he’s got a little niggle that we need to manage as he’s an important player for us. We’ll do everything we can to turn him around for Saturday.

“Ben had an illness overnight and we made a decision not to risk him or have him around the group as he was infectious.”