Peterborough United should be fitter and fresher for the FA Cup tie at Shrewsbury Town

A virus has swept through the club in the last fortnight forcing players to miss games or to play when feeling under the weather.

Captain Jonson Clarke-Harris and star midfielder Jack Taylor are among those to have been affected, but Posh believe they are through the worst of it as they prepare to find some form before the League One season resumes next month.

That will come as a relief to manager Grant McCann who was far from impressed with the performances of some of his fringe players in Tuesday’s 4-2 EFL Trophy defeat at the hands of Chelsea Under 21s.

McCann said: "We told the players in the dressing room to look at themselves in the mirror and ask if you've done enough to keep yourself in the team.

"I don’t actually have much of a selection headache. You give people opportunities and you want them to go on and perform.

"But we have people like Jeando Fuchs, Jack Taylor, Jonson Clarke-Harris, hopefully Ephron Mason-Clark, Nathan Thompson, Dan Butler, Frankie Kent and Kwame Poku to come back in if they don’t.

"We've got a lot of players to come back and at the end of the day, it's just the harsh reality of football.”

Posh hope in-form forward Ephron Mason-Clark passes a concussion test after his early substitution at Bristol Rovers last weekend and wide man Joe Ward is close to a return.

Taylor appeared to be in decent nick as a scoring substitute on Tuesday and looks set to rekindle his midfield relationship with Fuchs at the Montgomery Waters Stadium.

Josh Knight or Kell Watts will partner Kent in the heart of the Posh back four if Ronnie Edwards loses his appeal against a one-match suspension for a red card at Bristol Rovers last weekend.

Likely Posh starting line-up (4-3-3):

Bergstrom

Thompson, Kent, Knight, Butler.

Taylor, Burrows, Fuchs

Mason-Clark, Clarke-Harris, Poku.