Peterborough United manager reveals how he got his star striker scoring again

Clarke-Harris scored twice in last weekend’s 3-0 League One home win over Port Vale to end a six-game goal drought. Those goals took Clarke-Harris to seven in just 10 third tier matches, the best return in the division.

The captain spoke of his gratitude to McCann and his teammates after the Vale game.

JCH speaks

And McCann has now disclosed details of how he picked up one of his key players.

"It was just a case of stripping things back with Jonno,” McCann said. “I pulled him in and took him back to what he’s done for the club in the past, especially since I came back.

"It’s something like 15 goals in 24 games under my management, but I could see he had started to get agitated in recent games as he wasn’t getting any chances. He then had a few chances against Spurs and didn’t take them.

"But I showed him his goals and the positions he took up to score them and I think he appreciated it.

"He’s a humble lad who understands his importance to the team. He likes honesty and I will always give honesty as a manager.”

Clarke-Harris is out in front as he seeks his second sucessive League One golden boot award, one goal clear of former Exeter City’s former youth team player Jevan Brown, Conor Chaplin of Ipswich Town and Aaron Collins of Bristol Rovers.

He looks certain to start the League One game at MK Dons on Saturday (3pm) when Posh will be backed by close to 3,000 travelling fans.

They should see an entertaining game according to McCann. MK are currently 18th after last season’s third-place finish as they bed a huge amount of new players.

"They have had a big turnover of players and that’s not easy to cope with,” McCann added. “But they will play an attractive, possession-based game and we will need to get our gameplan right to combat them.

“It’s great to see so many of our fans making the trip. The fans of this club always seem to travel in big numbers and the management and players all appreciate it. They are a big help to us. We want to put on a show for them, but we are not getting ahead of ourselves. It will be a tough game.”

McCann has selection dilemmas with the return of Ronnie Edwards and Joe Taylor from international duty and the recovery from a long-term injury of Dan Butler.

Dilemma

But the 4-3-3 formation looks set to stay with midfielders Jack Taylor, Jeando Fuchs and Ben Thompson all expected to keep their places.

"I liked the way they played last week,” McCann said. “They all have versatility and we have given them the freedom to take up attacking positions.”