Can Peterborough United continue their improved form when struggling Fleetwood Town come to the ABAX Stadium?
Peterborough United v Fleetwood Town
Location: ABAX Stadium
Date: Saturday, 14th November, 2015
Kick-off: 15:00pm
Posh will be looking to get back to winning ways in the League after suffering a 3-2 reverse in their last League outing. They did record an impressive 3-0 win at Burton Albion last weekend in the first round of the FA Cup though and they will be wanting to continue that form.
Posh and the Cod Army finished level on points last season but, while the fortunes of Posh have picked up since the removal of manager Dave Robertson, Fleetwood have struggled and are currently languishing just inside the relegation places.
Fleetwood were last in action on Tuesday evening when they qualified for the semi-final of the Johnstone`s Paint Trophy. They beat Sheffield United on penalties after the match finished goalless. That was the third game in a row that the Cod Army had failed to score in!
HEAD TO HEAD
Last season was the first time these two sides had ever met in competitive action!
Posh won the first encounter at London Road one-nil thanks to a goal from Conor Washington on the stroke of half-time. Stephen Crainey was dismissed with eight minutes remaining of the match after picking up two yellow cards.
The reverse fixture saw Posh take the lead in the 64th minute when Joe Newell [pictured above] scored but they were pegged back with 12 minutes remaining of the match when Mark Roberts struck to win a share of the points.
TEAM NEWS
Peterborough United
Posh will be missing central defender Gaby Zakuani and striker Souleymen Coulibaly who are both away on international duty with the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Ivory Coast respectively.
Zakuani played 90 minutes in DR Congo`s 3-2 win in Burundi in a World Cup qualifying match on Wednesday [11th November]. They play the return leg in Kinshasha on Monday [16th November], although you can`t rule out Zakuani making the trip back to Peterborough for the Fleetwood match before jetting off again! He did it last time, could he do it again?
Also missing from the squad is centre-back Jack Baldwin who returned from injury for the first time in over a year in the dying minutes of the win over Burton Albion last week. He lasted less than a minute though as he was sent off for a reckless challenge as he slid in to a tackle with one foot raised when trying to win the ball from a Burton player who had mis-controlled the ball.
Another defender missing from the squad is left-back Kgosi Ntlhe (toe) who is now the only long term injury victim alongside strike Joe Gormley (knee). The final person missing through injury is Harry Anderson (hand).
Gaby Zakuani went off injured against Burton last week and was replaced by Michael Smith. It is expected Smith and the other 10 players will keep their starting place against the Cod Army although there are other players pressing for a return.
Marcus Maddison has been missing for a number of weeks but returned to the bench last weekend while utility player Andrew Fox is starting to make regular appearances from the bench. Despite being a midfielder, Fox was originally signed as a left-back! In recent appearances, he has been playing in midfield but he has been training in a different position this week just in case he needs to play in that position. Westley declined to confirm the position in question but with the lack of strikers and with Gaby`s international call-up could we see Fox make an appearance as a central defender or a striker?
Fleetwood Town
The Cod Army qualified for the semi-final of the JPT in midweek but they had to do it on penalties. A lack of goals has been a major concern for Steven Pressley`s side this side but they have bolstered their attacking options this week with the loans of Everton striker David Henen and Reading winger Tariqe Fosu.
Henen, 19, has yet to make a first-team appearance for the Toffees after he joined from Greek side Olympiakos in July while Fosu, 20, has made a brief appearance for the Royals last season against Derby County. Both players will be in the squad for the match against Posh.
The Cod Army do have a former Posh player in their ranks. Striker David Ball signed for Fleetwood after leaving Posh and the striker hit the headlines recently when one of his goals was shortlisted in FIFA’s ‘most beautiful goal’ top 10!
HOTSHOTS
Posh
5 – Marcus Maddison
5 – Lee Angol
5 – Conor Washington
4 – Jon Taylor
4 – Souleymane Coulibaly
4 – Erhun Oztumer
Fleetwood Town
4 – Robert Grant
4 – Jamie Proctor
2 – Tyler Homby-Forbes
2 – Jamille Matt
2 – Jimmy Ryan
1 – David Ball
REFEREE
The referee for this televised match is Lee Collins.
He has refereed Posh on just two previous occasions but he is in just his fifth season as a Football League referee. The Cod Army have also had Collins twice.
To find out more about Collins and his previous encounters with both Posh and the Cod Army *** CLICK HERE ***.
Collins will be assisted by Robert Mackay and Anthony Da Costa. The fourth official is Gavin Muge.
PREDICTION
Fleetwood may be struggling to score goals but at the same time, they aren`t conceding that many either. They`ve kept three clean sheets out of their last six matches so they know how to defend!
The Cod Army will be boosted by that JPT win and also their new loanees who both will be desperate to make a good impression so all-in-all it could be an interesting afternoon for Posh.
Posh will need to be at their clinical best to overcome a side desperate to get out of the relegation places. Goalscoring has been spread around the team this season which is a good thing as you`re not relying on one person to get the goals thus providing more of a threat to the opposition.
If Posh can re-produce their form from the second half of last weeks win over Burton and the first half against Coventry the week before, then we should be looking at a comfortable win. However, the longer the game goes without a goal, the quieter and unrestful the crowd will become so we need to make sure we start off quickly and get that all important first goal.
Vital Posh predicts Posh will win: 3 – 0.
What do you think the score will be?
You can predict the Posh v Fleetwood Town match HERE.
There have been six different scores predicted so far; four for a Posh win and two for a Fleetwood win! One prediction is starting to run away with things (3-1 to Posh) with a 3-0 Posh win trying to keep in touch!
Don`t forget to vote in the following polls which are currently running at the time of print:
October Player of the Month Poll
Man of the Match v Burton Albion
Rate The Ref – David Webb – Burton Albion v Posh
We`re looking for your thoughts and views as well as bloggers and article contributions too so please share some of those with your comments below.
UP THE POSH
Tweets by @VitalPosh
Photo courtesy of www.theposhpics.com
