Wycombe Wanderers v Posh

A look ahead to the Sky Bet League One fixture at Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday afternoon (3pm).

Peterborough United are back on the road on Saturday with a trip to Adams Park to face Wycombe Wanderers (3pm) in Sky Bet League One action with Darren Ferguson’s men looking to bounce back after defeats to Wigan Athletic and Exeter City.

Posh remain in an excellent position in the league table, but will come up against a Chairboys side who have lost just twice in the last 10 matches in all competitions. Wycombe picked up three points last time out on the road with a comfortable victory at struggling Cheltenham Town.

TEAM NEWS

Michael Olakigbe will be unavailable following his red-card at Exeter City, while Kwame Poku and Will Blackmore are both side-lined. Poku is due to return to action on Tuesday evening when Posh host Port Vale.

Striker Jacob Wakeling is set to miss the rest of the season after suffering an ankle ligament injury for the under 21s. There are a number of other knocks and niggles within the Posh squad with manager Darren Ferguson set to assess the fitness of his players on Friday before finalising the squad to travel to Buckinghamshire.

Wycombe are unable to call upon forward Brandon Hanlon, who is out for the rest of the season due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury. After seeing his side claim all three points last weekend, Bloomfield could be tempted to name an unchanged line-up for Saturday's contest.

January addition Bez Lubala will provide Bloomfield with a useful option off the bench after making his Wycombe debut as a substitute against Cheltenham.

ONE TO WATCH

Fans favourite Garath McCleary (pictured below) joined the Chairboys in November 2021 and has gone to play a key role in the Wanderers attack, providing additional creativity, trickery, goal threat and bags of experience. He began his footballing career with Oxford City, progressing through non-league with impressive spells later with Slough Town and Bromley, eventually earning a move to the Football League.

Four years at the City Ground followed for McCleary, where he notched 13 goals and 13 assists for Nottingham Forest until eventually earning a move to Reading, where he would spend seven years. McCleary made his international debut for Jamaica in 2013, helping his side to a 0-0 draw vs Mexico. Garath made 24 appearances, scoring three times for the Reggae Boyz.

During his spell with Reading, Garath was immortalised in the Royal’s history as he equalised in the 2015 FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, only to bow out in a 2-1 loss to the Gunners. McCleary ended his time at the Berkshire side with an impressive 27 goals and 46 assists in 270 appearances before his eventual move to the Chairboys.

He quickly became an integral part of the side and his early season form in League 1 in 2021/22 earned him successive Player of the Month awards, voted for by Chairboys fans, as he netted six times before Christmas, and finished with double figures as the Blues secured a top-six finish. He netted in the last fixture, a 3-1 win at Cheltenham Town.

Gareth McCleary
 

FROM THE MANAGER

“Wycombe have brought in some good players during the January transfer window and they are a side that will make you defend. We have always had tough battles with them down the years. We have one or two players who are struggling, but we will assess the squad on Friday and see how they all are,” Darren Ferguson said.

TICKET NEWS

Just over 700 tickets have been sold so far for the game at Adams Park, but Posh fans can buy tickets on the day. Tickets will be on sale at www.theposhtickets.com until 3pm on Friday.

POSH+

Overseas Posh+ subscribers can watch the action with match passes available for ÂŁ10. Audio passes are available for ÂŁ5 with commentary from Nilesh Patel and Chris Dowsett.

HEAD TO HEAD

Joel Randall (pictured scoring below) scored direct from a corner while Ephron Mason-Clark scored a typical Ephron Mason-Clark goal in a 2-2 draw with Wycombe at the Weston Homes Stadium earlier in the season.


Posh v Wycombe Wanderers

A FOOT IN BOTH CAMPS

Posh defender Josh Knight could make his 200th career appearance on Saturday against the club where he spent a season on-loan in the Championship. Fellow defender Ryan Tafazolli could line up for the Chairboys against his former employees too.

There are a host of other players to have featured for both clubs including; Craig Mackail-Smith, Russell Martin, Sergio Torres, John Cornforth, Chris Westwood, Guy Whittingham, Scott McGleish, Richard Logan, Alex Lynch, Dean Keates, Anthony Grant, Mark Foran, Scott Rendell, Reuben Reid, Jon Obika, Junior Morias, Grant Masey, Lee Angol, Guy Branston, David Farrell and Miguel De Souza.

KIT COLOURS

Posh will be in their pink away kit for the game.

MATCH OFFICIAL

Ollie Yates is the match referee.