Posh -Vs- Derby - Match Preview

Peterborough United entertain Derby County in the npower Championship on Saturday with both teams facing a shortage of players and both likely to name 15 year old forwards in their squad!

It has also been designated the Family Football Festival with competitions, face painting, freebies all on offer.

Posh

Posh are facing a shortage of players and may be forced to name 15 year old Jaanai Gordan-Hutton in the squad. "We are down to 15 available senior players because of injuries and suspension, but I have no problem at all with including Jaanai in my squad." said Darren Ferguson.

Fergie continued "Derby have a few problems of their own, but they probably think they are playing us at the right time as well.

"I watched them lose to Cardiff the other night and they are a team very similar to us in that they have good energies and good pace.

"It`s going to be another good football match and we are confident we can get the result. We`ve had a bit of a slump, but the lads were bubbly on the way back from Southampton because they know they did well in difficult circumstances.

"I see other results in the Championship like Leeds losing at home 5-0 and other teams getting beaten 3-0 and 4-1, but that hasn`t happened to us. And I don`t think it ever will simply because team spirit is so good."

Derby County

Speaking on Derby's injury list, Clough said "The injuries caught up with us against Cardiff. We looked short of energy which absolutely wasn`t the case for the first 14 matches.

"We now have 10 players on the injury list and that`s a lot of players to be without, but we will not start feeling sorry for ourselves.

"Anyone who thinks he has it hard should think of Mason Bennett. He played very well on Wednesday night and then on Thursday he had double science, double English and double maths.

"We are going to stick with our youngsters though. We have a lot of faith in them."

Posh are missing a number of players through injury while Lee Tomlin and Lee Frecklington miss the game through suspension.

Tom Kennedy, despite having a poor game in his last outing against Southampton on Tuesday will retain his left back spot unless Craig Alcock makes a recovery from injury.

A question mark surrounds the formation of the team and whether Fergie goes with one up top or two. If he goes with one up top supported by Boyd, this could open the door for a first start for Danny Kearns.

Fellow midfielder Ryan Tunnicliffe should retain his place but could move to the right hand side of the diamond in place of the suspended Frecklington.

Posh could also feature 15 year old forward Jaanai Gordan-Hutton on the subs bench should Fergie not have enough first team players to fill the bench.

Having seen a six game barren snap broken, Sinclair has now scored in the last two Posh games.

Can he keep up his goalscoring form to make it three in a row?

One thing many Posh fans will be looking at and that is whether he has managed to learn to jump when the ball is played to him at head height or above!

Derby have 10 players out injured and like Posh are down to the bare bones.

Midfielder Kevin Kilbane, who played against Posh for Huddersfield in the League One play-off final at Old Trafford last season and is currently on loan at Pride Park from Hull could play as an emergency centre-back.

With the team ravaged by injury, all eyes will surely be on 15 year old striker Mason Bennett who looks set to make his third appearance for Derby.

Posh are on a disappointing run of 3 consecutive defeats and have lost 4 of their last 6 games.

Derby meanwhile have only won once in their last seven games. That win came last Saturday when they defeated Portsmouth 3-1.

The Rams won 3-0 on their last visit to London Road and have won 3 out of the last 6 League meetings between these two teams. Posh have won two matches with one being drawn.

Iain Williamson will take charge of this match with Carl Fitch and Keith Lawson running the lines.

The fourth official is Neil Hair.

As with all Posh games, there will be goals in this game.

Both teams are on a poor run of form and will be keen to get a win before the International break.

It should be a tight game with just a goal separating them. I would like to think Posh will be strong enough to take all 3 points.

Posh 2 - 1 Derby County

There are no games next week due to the International break.

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