Peterborough United open their Coca-Cola League One account at London Road against Leyton Orient on Saturday (3pm) and manager Darren Ferguson has confirmed that Jamie Day will not be in the squad.

Day is still several weeks behind after a minor operation during the close-season and his plans to get 90 minutes of action in a reserve team friendly at Norwich City was scuppered due to a bout of flu.

Ferguson told theposh.com: 'We were hoping that Jamie would feature in the friendly game and to be honest it was one of the main reasons for arranging the match, but it wasn't to be after he went down with flu. He won't be considered this week as he is quite a way behind the rest of the squad in terms of fitness.

'Liam Hatch is now available after illness and injury, while Chris Whelpdale trained with the rest of the squad on Thursday after suffering with flu himself earlier in the week. He should be fine for the weekend.'

Ferguson is hoping that Posh can get their season up and running against Orient after an unfortunate defeat at Bristol City in the Carling Cup and a 1-0 loss at Southend United on the opening day of the campaign.

'I am not overly concerned by the first two matches of the season because we performed very well in both, particularly Bristol City. The concentration levels need to be very high and we need to improve that area of our performance. Leyton Orient are the opponents on Saturday and I am expecting the standard of football to be high because both like to get the ball down and play.

'They beat Hereford 2-1 on the opening day and have some talented players including Adam Boyd, who scored plenty of goals for Hartlepool United. If you are asking me which Boyd is better, then that is hard to answer, but everyone knows how I feel about George.

'He was back to his best at Bristol City and I am confident he can repeat that performance on Saturday in front of our own supporters. It would be good to get a win in front of our own fans and it will boost the players' confidence,' Ferguson said.