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Preview: Grimsby v Peterborough

By: Kevin Dolan
Date: 23/03/2007

GRIMSBY Town welcome Peterborough United to Blundell Park this Saturday looking to continue their impressive run and move into the top 10 of League 2.

Home > 2006-2007 Season > Previews > Peterborough (h)


The Opposition

Overview
After promotion in 1999/2000, Peterborough spent five seasons in League 1 before being relegated to League 2 at the end of the 2004/05 season. Last season they made a reasonable effort to get straight back; but after flirting with the play offs for most of the season, ended up finishing ninth. Posh were in the play off places in January when Mark Wright was sacked for gross misconduct after only 8 months at the club (the court case is still ongoing). Steve Bleasdale then took over as caretaker manager, won his first game in charge (a 2-1 win at Blundell Park), and kept Posh on the fringe of the play offs before quitting with two games of the season to go, blaming problems with Chairman Barry Fry and intrusion from Ron Atkinson who was now an advisor (whilst making a TV documentary on the club). Fry then took over for the remaining games of the season.

After leaving Lincoln City, Keith Alexander was appointed manager in the summer and in the autumn Fry stepped aside as Chairman (becoming Director of Football), allowing Darragh MacAnthony to take over with plans to significantly invest in the club. Alexander started the season well and Posh spent the first third of the season in the play offs, but a poor run before Christmas, plus disillusion with the long ball tactics, saw Alexander sacked. Tommy Taylor took over as caretaker before Peterborough gave Darren Ferguson (son of Alex) a first taste of management.

The Team
Peterborough currently lie in 10th place, two points ahead of Town. Their season has been plagued by erratic results, but they gave recorded impressive wins at Swindon, Stockport and MK Dons. They were in 6th place at start of December, but 1 point from 10 games saw them fall in to the bottom half and seemingly writing off their season. Ferguson then stopped the rot and a run of three successive wins was ended in defeat at Shrewsbury in their last outing, but still leaving them with an outside chance of making the play offs.

Ben Futcher signed for Peterborough from Town in August and scored in the 2-2 draw at London Road. Top scorers with 10 goals are Danny Crow (left) and the injured Aaron McLean who signed for £150k from Grays earlier in the season. Defender Adam Newton is in his sixth season at the club and has the most appearances this season. Forward Craig Mackail-Smith signed from Dagenham & Redbridge in January and has two goals so far.

Key Player
Midfielder George Boyd moved to London Road in January for a Conference record transfer of £260k and already has three goals in his twelve appearances. The 21 year old previously spent five years at Stevenage amassing over 100 appearances.

Recent Form

TownPeterborough
WSwindon(h)1-0
WHereford(a)1-0
WBury(h)2-0
LMacclesfield(a)1-2
WWrexham(h)2-1
Currently 12th in League Two.
LShewsbury(a)1-2
WMK Dons(h)4-0
WNotts Co(h)2-0
WBury(a)3-0
DBoston(h)1-1
Currently 10th in League Two.

Top Scorers

TownPeterborough
Peter Bore8
Ciaran Toner8
Crow10
McLean10

Team News

TownPeterborough

  • Isaiah Rankin has joined Macclesfield on loan until the end of the season.

  • Alan Buckley again has to decide between 4-4-2 and 4-5-1, whilst Peter Till could replace Peter Bore after impressing as a substitute last week.
  • Shane Blackett serves the second of a three-match ban.

  • Trevor Benjamin and Mark Arber have joined Walsall and Dagenham & Redbridge respectively on loan until the end of the season.

  • Posh have signed defenders Alan White on loan from Notts County and Danny Blanchett for an undisclosed fee from Cambridge City this week.
  • Probable Teams

    TownPeterborough
    1Phil Barnes
    2John McDermott
    6Justin Whittle
    5Nick Fenton
    3Tom Newey
    17Peter Till
    25James Hunt
    8Paul Bolland
    16Danny Boshell
    10Ciaran Toner
    22Danny North
    1Mark Tyler
    28Craig Morgan
    23Ben Futcher
    TBAAlan White
    7Adam Newton
    11Peter Gain
    6Micah Hyde
    29Gavin Strachan
    2Josh Low
    12Craig Mackail-Smith
    30George Boyd

    Subs

    TownPeterborough
    13Robert Murray
    20Matt Bloomer
    24Simon Grand
    18Peter Bore
    19Gary Jones
    31Shwan Jalal
    8Richard Butcher
    17Jamie Day
    18Shane Huke
    16Danny Crow

    Head to Head

    Peterborough have a good record at Blundell Park and Town have won only one of the last nine meetings here

    P 38 W 11 D 14 L 13 F 53 A 54

    Peterborough Head-to-Head (54th on The Opposition Ladder)

    Last Meeting

    The last meeting at Blundell Park was the last home defeat of last season and the only time Town lost successive league matches throughout the whole of last season.

    28-Jan-2006
    Grimsby1 - 2Peterborough
    Reddy 29 Gain 30
    Crow 71

    Grimsby Team: Mildenhall, McDermott (Croft, 45), Bloomer, R Jones, Newey, Parkinson (Gritton, 67), Bolland, Woodhouse, Cohen, Mendes, Reddy Subs (not used): Barwick, Toner, Downey

    Peterborough Team: Tyler (Plummer, 81), Holden, Carden, Bolland, St Ledger, Newton, Arber, Gain, Day, Logan, Crow
    Subs (not used): Willock, Semple, Boucaud, Benjamin

    Attendance: 4,462  Report

    Bookings: Bolland, Croft, Gritton (Grimsby) Arber, Gain, St Ledger (Peterborough)

    Prediction

    Town 1-0 Peterborough

    Reader's POMs

    Directions

    Click on the link for directions to Blundell Park (left).

    Admission Prices

    Click on the link for ticket prices to Blundell Park.

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