Peterborough United head to the Priestfield on Saturday to face Steve Evans’ Gillingham in Sky Bet League One.
Peterborough United make the trip to Kent on Saturday to face Gillingham in Sky Bet League One looking to build on last weekend’s 2-0 victory over Lincoln City which moved Darren Ferguson’s men into third place in the table.
The Gills, who are managed by former Posh boss Steve Evans, got a creditable point from a 0-0 draw at Portsmouth last weekend. It is the first meeting between the two sides since Evans left the football club earlier this year.
TEAM NEWS
Posh boss Darren Ferguson confirmed that right-back Nathan Thompson is available after coming through 45 minutes in the reserve team defeat to West Bromwich Albion in midweek. Louis Reed is suspended following two bookings against Lincoln so Posh will have to make an enforced change. Niall Mason, Kyle Barker and Josh Knight could all operate in the deep lying midfield position should Posh deploy the same system as in recent weeks while Alex Woodyard is another option.
Gillingham deployed a 4-5-1 system last week to nullify the threat of Portsmouth’s attacking players last weekend but are expected to be more attack-minded against Posh. Mikael Mandron is expected to lead the line.
FROM THE GAFFER
“Gillingham is a tough place to go, I always think if you come away from Priestfield with three points in your bag you will be happy. They have some good attacking players, we know that, and their record at home is pretty good. Hopefully the weather will be kind because our supporters will be in that uncovered stand behind the goal. Our home form has been good but the last three away from home have been under par with just two points from nine available,” Darren Ferguson said.
FROM THE OPPOSITION
“I expect Posh to get promotion and I hope they do. I remember what a lift reaching the Championship gave to the whole city and I hope they get back there. Of course I want to beat them first, but we are well aware how tough that could be. I watched the whole game from Wycombe over the weekend and 5-0 Posh after an hour would have been fair.
“Watching that game showed how foolish we would be to play gung-ho football on Saturday as they would pick us off with their attacking quality.
“But we will have a plan. We are playing okay, but like Posh we’ve had some frustraing results when we’ve been in front and playing well and then not won. We drew after building two-goal leads against Tranmere and Blackpool and those four extra points would have us right behind Posh,” Gills boss Steve Evans said.
TICKET NEWS
Posh had sold 350 tickets by 9am on Thursday with tickets available at www.theposhtickets.com, via the Ticketmaster hotline 0844 847 1934 (Calls cost 7ppm plus your network access fee) and in person at the Weston Homes Stadium Ticket Office until 2pm on Friday. The game is not all-ticket but there is a £2 price rise on the day.
KIT COLOURS
Posh will be in the white kit.
MATCH OFFICIAL
The referee is Charles Breakspear