MATCH PREVIEW: Peterborough United's surge towards the play-offs needs to start against Scunthorpe

Victory in tonight’s (February 13) League One fixture against high-flying Scunthorpe at the ABAX Stadium would be the perfect start in a 16-game run towards the play-offs.

Fourth-placed Scunthorpe are 10 points and five places ahead of Posh who have two matches in hand. Posh would have been closer if they hadn’t conceded a 93rd minute goal at the end of a game they had dominated at Gillingham on Saturday.

“We played well at Gillingham, but suffered in the end because we didn’t find that second goal,” McCann stated. “We ned to build on that performance now and beat Scunthorpe.

“It won’t be easy because they are well organised, well drilled and well coached. They have been in the play-offs ever since Graham Alexander took over as manager and they will fancy this is their year, but then we also think it could be our year.

“They have two good wingers and two good strikers capable of causing problems for every League One team. They have good experience throughout the team, but they will also be aware of our threats.

“I sense the tide is about to turn for us. They say you make your own luck and we must start making that happen. I am convinced we are not far from being a very good side at this level. It’s up to me to make that happen often enough to enable us to reach the play off places.

“We need to kick on in games and get the second goal so we don’t have to worry about letting one in. It will happen because we have a good group of players who want to learn.

“Scunthorpe are where we want to be. If we can win this game and then win our two games in hand we will be very close to them.

“We will take confidence from our performance at their place when we dominated the game for long periods before two late mistakes cost us the game.”

Assist king Marcus Maddison is expected to return to the squad tonight after missing the Gillingham game with a calf injury, but McCann could stick with the same team and formation. Posh reverted to a system involving three centre backs on Saturday.

McCann issued a statement on social media yesterday urging the Posh fans to play their part in the League One run-in.

“We passed the ball well and controlled the game at Gillingham,” McCann added. “We employed a style of play that really suited us.

“Marcus has improved, but we will have to wait and see if he has improved enough to start the game. Danny Lloyd was excellent in his place at Gillingham.

“There is only one way to get out of this league and that’s to stick together on and off the field, and that’s certainly the case in a big game tonight.

“It should be a good game between two teams who will try and win. We want them to come at us because that will improve our chances of hurting them.”

Posh full-back Alex Penny is likely to require surgery on his damaged shoulder which would keep him out for the rest of the season.