Positive injury news for Peterborough United on Nathan Thompson, Ronnie Edwards, Joel Randall and more the most important thing for Grant McCann as Posh draw at Barnet

The beginning of the League One season away at Cheltenham on July 30 is just two weeks away and Posh were without Harvey Cartwright, Nathan Thompson, Ronnie Edwards, Emmanuel Fernandez, Joel Randall, Kwame Poku and Jack Marriott as they faced the National League side but McCann has insisted that there are no serious concerns for any of those players, especially Thompson whose injury he sustained at Stevenage on Wednesday (July 13) in not as bad as first feared.

Harvey Cartwright, Ronnie Edwards, Kwame Poku and Joel Randall are all expected back for the trip to Kings Lynn on Tuesday (July 19). Meanwhile, the rest are expected to appear before the end of preseason

McCann said: “Nathan Thompson we’re hoping will be back this week, it’s not as bad as first feared. Ronnie had an illness, he could have been here today but we didn’t take and risks as we didn’t want to infect the rest of the group.

"They are all precautionary, they’re little knocks and niggles. It’s preseason, we don’t need to be taking any risks with any of our players. We want them to get minutes but we’re mindful of the fact you can’t push people to the limit where we many lose them.”

There were also positive updates regarding long-term absentees Dan Butler and Ollie Norburn.

McCann added: “We’re pleased that we’ve got to this stage with no major injuries and that’s the way we want to keep it. We have to keep pushing the players but be mindful that sometimes you might need to step back before you can go again.

“Buts and Ollie are looking really good. They are working very hard. Buts is out running on the grass on the minute but it’s hard to put a timescale on it. It’s really when he feels he’s ready but he’s looking very, very good and Olli’s working very, very hard. He’s still got a few months to go but he’s looking ahead of the curve at the minute and we’re pleased with him.”

Without the raft of players out injured, Posh could only muster a 2-2 draw at Barnet and had to come from 2-0 down. The side packed with mostly youngsters brought McCann’s side level and nearly won the game as Barnet made similar changes and brought on a number of trialists.

He said: “Preseason is never about results, it’s about getting the players to a place where they are ready to go physically but also work on some stuff technically as well.

"Results are irrelevant in preseason, yes of course everybody wants to win and I’m no different but I want to make sure we get the right points and fitness level into the players so they’re ready to go.

“We created enough chances to win three games in the space of 60 minutes but unfortunately we didn’t take of them but I’m pleased we get into the areas. We lacked the quality to finish them but that’ll come; we’re still two weeks away.

"That will come because I know we’ve got good players at the top end of the pitch. The two goals were disappointing as they were probably the only two opportunities they had and they’re two soft identical goals.

“The young lads in the second half did really well though and I was pleased with how they responded by bringing it back from 2-0 down and we probably should have won.”