Peterborough United host fellow Championship strugglers Millwall at London Road on Tuesday evening.
Peterborough United -Vs- Millwall
Venue: London Road
Date: 6th March, 2012
Kick-off: 7.45pm
With just 13 League games remaining of the season, Posh are still looking for more points to guarantee their survival in the npower Championship.
Millwall are in a similar situation to Posh being four points and one place behind the London Road outfit but they have had some decent results away from home since the turn of the year.
TEAM NEWS
Peterborough United
Posh go in to this match with both Lee Tomlin and Lee Fecklington returning to the squad having missed out on the weekends defeat by Crystal Palace through illness. Paul Taylor, who picked up a slight groin strain in that match, is expected to be fit for selection.
Even though Posh boss Darren Ferguson has a fully fit squad to select from with the exception of long term injury victim Dave Hibbert, striker Emile Sinclair could sit out of this game with rumours circling that he has been told he can leave the club!
With Fergie reverting back to the midfield diamond following a successful change in formation to 4-4-2 for the Bristol City game, only minor changes are expected from last weekends match. He has yet to find the best striking partnership so he could try another pairing in this match.
Tyrone Barnett is expected to be given his second start since his arrival from Crawley Town.
The back four are expected to remain the same with Craig Alcock still filling in at centre back, although Posh are expected to finally sign a centre-back on loan by the end of the week.
Youngster Danny Kearns, who had a good 45 minutes against Palace before fading in the second half, is expected to drop back to the bench.
Vital Posh predicts the starting line-up could be:
Jones
Little, Alcock, Zakuani, Briggs
McCann
Frecklington Rowe
Boyd
Taylor, Barnett
Millwall
Millwall have doubts over their star striker Darius Henderson who has a hamstring injury. Liam Trotter and Jack Smith are also suffering from injuries but all three will face a late fitness test before the team is announced.
Midfielders Therry Racon and Tamika Mkandawire are definitely out through injury. So is Shane Lowry who picked up an ankle injury in Saturdays defeat by Reading.
PRE-MATCH QUOTES
Ferguson said: “It`s a big game tonight for sure. If we win we will be seven points ahead of Milwall with a game in hand and that would be a great position to be in.
“I`m not concerned about our points tally in recent games as it was it is. I just want to reach 50 points as quickly as possible, but the form of the teams below is such that we might not even need that many.
“Millwall are a big strong side and we will have to defend well at set-pieces to get a result. They`ll be well-organised like all Championship teams so we will have to patient while trying to break them down.”
STATS & FACTS
Posh are still looking to chalk up their 900th League win which they`ll achieve if they win this match.
Posh have won only once in 11 matches in all competitions while Millwall have only won four times in their last 19 matches.
Head to Head statistics between these two teams can be found HERE.
A form guide to Posh and Millwall can be found HERE.
HOTSHOTS
Peterborough United
14 – Barnett (13 for Crawley)
8 – McCann
8 – Taylor
7 – Sinclair
7 – Tomlin
Millwall
13 – Henderson
6 – Trotter
4 – Feeney
4 – Simpson
PREDICTION
It`ll be a tough game tonight with not much in it. Although Posh haven`t been involved in a scoreless draw for 108 games, tonight could just see that record broken. Tyrone Barnett will be looking to impress on his home debut though so that could sway the contest slightly in Posh`s favour.
Vital Posh predicts a tight game ending in a battling 1 – 0 win for Posh.
REFEREE
Geoff ELTRINGHAM takes charge of this clash. Find out all his stats and when he has refereed Posh and Millwall before HERE.
He will be assisted by Wayne Porter and Ian Rathbone.
The fourth official is Chris O`Donnell.
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