He has to balance the need to bust a gut to reach a Wembley final with a desire to keep his better players fresh for a League One promotion push that has stalled badly this month.
If anything a defeat to Blackpool at home on Saturday makes tomorrow’s game more important. This is a Posh team in need of any sort of win to breathe some confidence into the squad, and reaching a Wembley final would be a huge boost for everyone.
It’s a situation made more complicated by a trip to local rivals Cambridge United next Saturday when Posh will be keen to end a miserable run of results at the Abbey Stadium.
The PT did consider resting the entire first-choice XI, but that would be asking for trouble having raised hope among the fanbase that a first Wembley trip for 10 years was in the offing.
Instead we made three changes to the team that lost to Blackpool at the weekend, but retained the 4-2-1-3 formation.
9. MICHAEL OLAKIGBE
Somehow Posh have ended up with three right wingers in their squad. We know about David Ajiboye's strengths and limitations and he appears to play better as an impact sub. We haven't seen much of Olakigbe who did okay on his debut and not so well on his second appearance. He will be keen to make up for a costly red card so we're giving him a go with fingers crossed. Photo: Joe Dent
10. MALIK MOTHERSILLE
Your regular first-choice centre forward can't be allowed to keep missing chances and keep his place so Malik Mothersille should get a go instead of Ricky-Jade Jones. Mothersille is also quick and far more suited to the Posh style of play than Jonson Clarke-Harris. Photo: Joe Dent
11. EPHRON MASON-CLARK
I'm in the dark over how banged up Mason-Clark is right now, but he is spending a lot of time flat on his back in matches these days. If there's any chance playing in this game rules him out of the Cambridge derby we'd leave him out and play Jones down the left. Photo: David Lowndes
12. THE SUBS
My subs are Jones (pictured), Talley, Randall, Emmanuel Fernandez, Ajiboye, Harley Mills and Collins. Photo: Joe Dent