Dennis Kelmendi

Posh U18s face The Hornets in the Professional Development League on Saturday.

Peterborough United U18s return to Professional Development League action on Saturday morning (10:30am) as they face Watford U18s at the idverde Training Ground and will look for their first victory of the league campaign. The kick-off time has been brought forward to 10:30am due to expected high temperatures tomorrow.

The under 18s picked up an impressive victory over West Bromwich Albion last weekend in the Premier League Cup, with Tyler Winters, Joel Odei-Larbi and Joe Davies all on the scoresheet in a 3-1 win.

U21s Lead Professional Development Phase Coach, Ryan Semple, who will be taking charge of the game on Saturday, says the performances have been improving over recent weeks despite the results and looks ahead to the fixture against The Hornets.

Semple said: “It was a good confidence boost last weekend to pick up the victory. However, even previous to last week, we played well against Millwall and I know the scoreline didn’t suggest that, we played some really good stuff and parts of the performance were identifiable to us. There were definite improvements over the last few weeks and we will be looking for the same against Watford this weekend to continue with the things we have done well.

“They are a good team and have started the season quite well. We have watched a few of their games and are a dynamic team, got players who like to break quickly and are powerful. It’s a game where we will have to keep the ball for large periods and we feel that’s the best way to hurt them. However, if the game becomes transitional and we struggle to maintain possession, then they will cause us problems. We will just be looking at how we can impose our game, with or without the ball, and we have a good chance if we can do those correctly.”

The Hornets, who compete in the Southern region of the Professional Development League, have picked up four points in their opening three games, including an 8-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers last time out.

The game is available for supporters to watch at the idverde Training Ground. Updates of the game will be provided on The Posh Academy X account (@theposhacademy)