AFC Hornchurch v Posh (Preview)

The magic of the FA Cup surfaces this Sunday when Darren Ferguson takes his Posh side to play AFC Hornchurch in round one.

It`s a classic David v Goliath tie, one of those that seemingly makes the cup so enjoyable, that is until you`re the Goliath laying slain with a gloating public pouring scorn on your inability to get past a minnow.

AFC Hornchurch will, no doubt, be keen to make their own little bit of history, they`ll be keen to echo Andy Warhol`s words whereby everybody is supposedly famous for fifteen minutes. They`ll see this tie as the chance to get noticed, perhaps one or two still hanker after the opportunity to carve out a career in the Football League on a full time basis.

However, there is no room for sentiment in the FA Cup, therefore, it`ll be up to Posh to make sure Hornchurch are disappointed come five o`clock on Sunday afternoon. Darren Ferguson will be drilling into his troops the necessity to put in a professional performance and of not falling into the trap whereby complacency is our greatest opposition.

We`re on a long unbeaten run and although promotion is the priority a run in the cup can do wonders in keeping sprits up. AFC Hornchurch will come out all guns blazing and the first fifteen minutes or so will not be a place for those with feint hearts. However, Posh will need to weather the storm, play their football and as they always say, their quality will surface.

Darren has a couple of selection issues to ponder over. Charlie Lee is suspended, after collecting five yellow cards, whilst Chris Whelpdale is out with an injury. Suitable replacements for the injured duo are Sergio Torres, Dean Keates, Shaun Batt and Micah Hyde, perm any two from four methinks.

AFC Hornchurch are likely to start with the same side that drew 3-3 with Dartford in their last match but we`ll cover the opposition in another article to follow.

So how do we here at Vital Posh see things panning out?

Well to be honest we don`t have any fears about becoming a Goliath, we`re too professional an outfit for that, Darren will have briefed his men and the attacking flair we possess in George Boyd, Craig Mackail-Smith and Aaron McLean will be too much for the non-league outfit. It`ll not be a rout but more of a comfortable win, 3-0 or 4-1 we`ll go for.

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