Peterborough United -Vs- Barnsley
Venue: London Road
Date: 3rd December, 2011
Kick-off: 3pm
Peterborough United entertain Barnsley on Saturday with both teams looking to stay away from the relegation dog-fight that will obviously build up as the season progresses and keep in touch with the play-offs.
Both teams are sitting in mid-table and on the same number of points; although Posh are 2 places above Barnsley. A win for either team should see them move into the top half of the table.
TEAM NEWS
Peterborough United
Despite suffering a 3-2 defeat on Tuesday, Posh are expected to name an unchanged line up for this match. Tom Kennedy should retain the left back position even though he will be unavailable for Posh`s next match away at his parent club Leicester City next week.
Another loanee defender, Scott Wootton from Manchester United, is closing in on a return to Posh following the knee injury he picked up a few weeks ago, but he probably won`t make the squad for a couple of weeks.
Midfielders Ryan Tunnicliffe and Daniel Kearns are still chomping at the bit to get more involved and have been unlucky not to feature more often; especially in the mid-week defeat by Reading when Posh boss Ferguson amazingly decided not to make any substitutions!
Fellow midfielder Lee Frecklington may return having missed out on Tuesday through injury.
Barnsley
The Tykes will be without influential midfielder David Perkins for the first time this season as he sits out a one match ban following his two yellow cards he received against Leeds United. Manchester United loanee Danny Drinkwater is expected to take his place.
Tykes boss Keith Hill will have a tough decision to make when deciding which of the frontmen to pick in his starting line-up as he has Craig Davies, Ricardo Vaz Te, Danny Haynes and Newcastle loanee Nile Ranger to choose from. Fellow striker Andy Gray is also expected to have recovered from an Achilles injury which has kept him out of the squad for the past two weeks.
PRE-MATCH QUOTES
“Keith Hill is someone I know pretty well and he has done a great job at Barnsley. They play football the right way and I believe they are one of the best footballing sides in the division so it will be a tough game for us” said Posh boss Darren Ferguson.
Barnsley boss Keith Hill said ahead of the game: “We’ve done a good preparation in pursuit of getting the points at Peterborough.
“It’s exciting football. They’ve won a lot of games playing in that style.
“They’ve got good players in offensive areas of the pitch. Their defenders are attackers, if you like, and their attackers are attackers!
“Darren’s gone back there and stabilised the football club, the team, he’s reinvigorated the team and the spirit.
“I know Darren – ambitious, spirit, desire, determination – that’ll be reflected in the way that his team play.
“We need to stay firmly anchored to our principles.
“You’ve got to look at the league and see how close we are to sixth place with a game in hand, and then to how close we are to the bottom. The perils are dangerous but the flip side of the coin is the next two games can be really, really enticing as well.”
STATS & FACTS
Both teams currently have 24 points with Posh sitting in 13th place with Barnsley in 15th place. Barnsley have played one game less than Posh though.
Peterborough United
Posh encountered a tough November and despite picking up impressive draws against Birmingham and Middlesbrough, they suffered a disappointing defeat to Reading and a narrow defeat away at Championship leaders Southampton.
Their last six matches has yielded just one win with two draws and three defeats.
Their home form in the last six games have seen them win three, draw one and lose two.
Barnsley
Barnsley had an impressive 2-1 win in their last away outing, at fellow Yorkshire side Leeds United. Their last six matches have seen them win three and lose three. Their away form in their last six matches have seen them win one, draw two and lose three.
They are currently on a two match winning streak.
HOTSHOTS
Peterborough United
8 McCann
6 Taylor
5 Sinclair
4 Tomlin
4 Frecklington
Barnsley
5 Davies
4 Butterfield
4 Gray
3 Vaz Te
PREDICTION
It will be another tough game for both sides. If Posh can perform as they did for 40 minutes against Reading on Tuesday, but for 90 minutes, they should come out on top of this game.
You`re guaranteed goals when Posh play and seeing as they`ve gone 94 games without picking up a no score draw and 19 games since a clean sheet, I can see both teams scoring.
However, Vital Posh think Posh will nick this game by the odd goal?
Peterborough United 2 – 1 Barnsley
REFEREE
The match official is Eddie ILDERTON.
He will be assisted by John BUSBY and Nick HOBBIS.
The fourth official will be David ROCK.
TICKET INFORMATION
Don`t forget this is a Category C game which means cheaper admission.
Find out more details HERE
Photos courtesy of www.theposhpics.com
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