A look ahead to the Sky Bet League One fixture at the Memorial Stadium against Bristol Rovers on Saturday (3pm).
Peterborough United make the trip to the Memorial Stadium on Saturday (3pm) to face Bristol Rovers in Sky Bet League One action with Darren Ferguson’s men looking to continue to put pressure on the teams above them in the table.
A win against the Pirates coupled with a defeat for Derby County at Cambridge United will make Tuesday’s trip to Cheltenham Town an important one so Ferguson has a tough balancing act in terms of his team selection for the clash against Rovers.
TEAM NEWS
Winger Michael Olakigbe remains sidelined with a foot injury, while midfielder Jeando Fuchs is out for the rest of the season. There are several knocks within the group and Ferguson will assess his squad ahead of the trip. Goalkeeper Will Blackmore made his comeback from a long injury lay-off for the Under 21s on Tuesday and will travel with the first team group,
The hosts were able to avoid any fresh injury concerns in their 1-0 victory over Cambridge United on Tuesday, leaving them with just a single injury concern. Grant Ward was forced off with injury in Bristol Rovers' 3-1 win against Cheltenham Town last weekend and is not expected to feature in this one.
Brandon Aguilera is likely to step in for the midfielder once again having replaced Ward during that match as well as starting in the midweek fixture.
ONE TO WATCH
Scott Sinclair
After eighteen years, Scott Sinclair has returned to Bristol Rovers on a short-term deal. Scott joined the club's Centre of Excellence as an eight-year-old schoolboy from Bath, he was eventually allocated squad number 34, making two substitute appearances for Rovers' first team, against Leyton Orient and Rushden & Diamonds in the 2004/05 season.
A 90th-minute cameo appearance against Orient was followed by a slightly longer 88th-minute appearance against Rushden, so his Rovers first-team career probably amounted to five minutes! His form for the youth and reserve teams up to that point had been phenomenal and it was no surprise when he would join Chelsea as a 16-year-old, in spite of attempts by Rovers to hang on to him.
The eventual fee was decided by tribunal and Scott would go on to play for a number of top clubs, including Celtic, Manchester City and Aston Villa, making a return to The Mem with the Midlands side in a friendly during the summer of 2016. Scott rejoined the club in October 2022.
FROM THE MANAGER
“Whenever you go to Bristol Rovers, it is always a tough game, and it is their final home fixture so I am sure they will want to finish strongly. They have a good fan base so we will need to control that element of the game. It is a difficult balancing act because we know that we need to win the game to see what happens elsewhere. We will have to have an eye on Derby’s score and I will have to manage the game within a game,” Darren Ferguson said.
TICKET NEWS
Tickets are on sale at www.theposhtickets.com and via the Weston Homes Stadium Ticket Office until 3pm on Friday. Just over 550 tickets have been sold for the game. Tickets are available on the day for no price increase. Sales will be at the Away Booth with card payment only.
POSH+
Match passes are available for overseas subscribers priced at £10 with audio passes available worldwide priced at £5 with commentary provided by Chris Dowsett and Nilesh Patel.
HEAD TO HEAD
Posh ran out 2-0 winners over Bristol Rovers at the Weston Homes Stadium earlier in the season with Archie Collins and David Ajiboye the goal-scorers.
A FOOT IN BOTH CAMPS
The obvious one is Jonson Clarke-Harris. Posh signed Clarke-Harris from Bristol Rovers and he nearly rejoined the Pirates in the summer transfer window only for the deal to fall through on deadline day. One-time Academy starlet Jevani Brown is still at the Pirates and there are a number of other connections with Bradley Allen, Harry Anderson, Jack Baldwin, Guy Branston, Ryan Broom, Paul Coutts, Mathew Gill, Scott McGleish, Rene Howe, Josh Low, Ollie Norburn, Tom Nichols, James Quinn, Erhan Oztumer, Worrell Sterling, Lee Thorpe, Justin Richards and Elliott Ward among them.
KIT COLOURS
Posh will be in their third kit for the game.
MATCH OFFICIAL
Tom Reeves is the match referee.