We’ll have to overcome another top League One outfit if we’re to make the final four of the Bristol Street Motors Trophy, with an appearance at Wembley on the horizon.
“For us, it’s vitally important that we take this next game as if it were a final because it means so much,” said Assistant Manager Terry Skiverton after final preparations for tonight’s away tie at our New Malden training base on Monday. “We’ll put the strongest team out possible.
“We’re having to do it the hard way! We’ve already beaten two teams who are up there - in Portsmouth and Oxford United - and now we’ve got another test in Peterborough, who are third in League One.”
You can listen to an extensive preview with Terry below.
“They’re coming off the back off a draw at the weekend, but they’ve got fantastic firepower going forward, they can cause a lot of problems with their front line, and they move the ball about quite well. When you’re so close to Wembley, do they pick a stronger team or do they concentrate on the league?
“We’ve been doing are due diligence on what we think they might play or could play and making sure we alert our players to everything about them.
“We know what we’re up against and we know what their strengths are and hopefully we can exploit a couple of their weaknesses.”
Our defensive options are boosted by Huseyin Biler and Paul Kalambayi. Although both were sent off in the league a week ago and are currently serving suspensions – they are available for selection in this competition.
We’ll also make a couple of late calls on fit-again centre-back Alex Pearce and forward Omar Bugiel, who had to come off before the second half of Saturday’s dramatic League Two victory over Mansfield.
“Omar didn’t train on Monday,” said Terry. “We’re managing him, and he’s got another 24 hours with a slight dead leg. He felt he could have come out for the session, but we just need to make sure that we give him as much time as possible for the game.
“We’ll have a discussion regarding Alex Pearce. He’s trained fantastically over the last few days, but it maybe a little bit early for him yet. We don’t want him to break down again. We’ll have a conversation and see if we’re able to put him in.”
Fellow defender Ryan Johnson remains ruled out though, as Terry revealed more about his injury: “I think he’s going to be out for an extended period. We don’t know the full extent of it yet and he’s got to go and see a specialist.
“He looked quite fit to me when he was hopping down that sideline when we got that winning goal though on Saturday! We are going to miss him, but the timing of when he does come back will be a crucial part of the season for us though and we just need to make sure that he does that safely.”
Photos: Pro Sports Images.
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