Preview: Penny excited about possible FA Cup debut

Posh defender Alex Penny (centre) walks out for his full Football League debut at Charlton. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.

Fourteen months ago the 20 year-old was an unused substitute as Nuneaton Borough bowed out of the competition at home to Lincoln United in the second qualifying round.

But tomorrow he could well be a man on a mission to help Posh into Monday’s third round draw with a victory at National League Woking. Penny will then hope Posh draw Manchester United, the team he supports.

Penny made his full Football League debut in the 2-2 League One draw at Charlton on Tuesday (November 28) when he stuck to his task well enough against Ricky Holmes, one of the better attacking players in the division.

Steven Taylor was a great help to Alex Penny at Charlton.

“It’s been an incredible 12 months,” Penny enthused. “A year ago I was waiting to make my National League debut for Nuneaton and now I’ve made my Football League debut at Charlton.

“It was a honour for me to be asked to play. I appreciate the opportunity and hopefully I did enough to stay in the side.

“I was up against an exceptional player who made it tough for me, but I managed to get closer to him in the second half and enjoyed some good moments.

“And now I could be making my first FA Cup appearance. I love this competition. I’m a big Manchester United fan and one of my first football memories was watching United beat Millwall 4-0 in an FA Cup final. If I’m involved tomorrow it will be very exciting.

“I sat on the bench for Nuneaton in the Cup last season and even that was a great experience. The atmosphere was great as it will be at Woking tomorrow.

“They will be up for the game so we will have to match that and hope we play as well as we did at Charlton.

“We’ve set a decent benchmark for the rest of the season now.

“It’s been frustrating for me this season to be out of the side, but I’ve made sure I’ve trained hard so I was ready for a call up when it came. I’ve also made sure I’ve been at the games supporting the lads.

“The experience of playing at a ground like Charlton will stay with me forever. I received great support from the experienced lads like Steve Taylor and Ryan Tafazolli.

“In fact Taylor didn’t shut up all game, but that’s exactly what I needed.”

Penny is expected to keep his place in an unchanged Posh side tomorrow.