Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Fifteen: Peterborough United v Barnsley

Team News

Barnsley have minor injury doubts over midfielders Emil Hallfredsson and Adam Hammill who both picked up knocks in the 2-0 Carling Cup defeat to Manchester United on Tuesday, but both are likely to be fit. Daniel Bogdanovic staked his claim to stay in the side after an impressive performance against the English champions but Andy Gray, Carl Dickinson and Ryan Shotton are all available again. Dickinson and Shotton are likely to replace Julian Gray and Rob Kozluk

Likely Lineup:

Luke Steele

Carl Dickinson

Stephen Foster

Darren Moore

Ryan Shotton

Anderson De Silva

Hugo Colace

Emil Hallfredsson

Adam Hammill

Jon Macken

Daniel Bogdanovic

Head To Head

Peterborough and Barnsley meet tomorrow for the first time in four years. 2004-2005 was the last time the two sides did battle when the Posh were relegated from League One at the end of that season. The Reds took all six points that season, thumping Posh 4-0 at Oakwell and 3-1 at London Road.

The 4-0 mauling in December 2004 was a fourth successive win for the Reds (something they haven't achieved since) and came courtesy of a hat-trick from Michael Chopra and a strike from Chris Shuker. The 3-1 win in March 2005 was a thrilling affair. A Chopra penalty had put The Reds in front after 67 minutes but Andy Legg equalised for the Posh with 17 minutes remaining. A draw looked on the cards until Daniel Nardiello struck in the 89^th minute and Chris Shuker in the 90^th.

It gave Andy Ritchie victory in his first game as caretaker manager. In fact Barnsley have won on their last three visits to London Road but have only won there four times in total! They have though only defeated the Posh twice in the last six Oakwell meetings. That 4-0 triumph and a 1-0 success in 1993. Peterborough secured the Oakwell spoils in 2003-2004 and 2002-2003

Overall Record:

Peterborough Wins: 13

Barnsley Wins: 10

Draws: 3

Peterborough Goals: 55

Barnsley Goals: 48

At London Road:

Peterborough Wins: 8

Barnsley Wins: 4

Draws: 1

Peterborough Goals: 38

Barnsley Goals: 25

This Season

Peterborough's meteoric rise under Darren Ferguson has been somewhat halted this season. It's certainly been a pleasant ride for the Posh fans who were once forced to watch their side implode in a TV documentary.

Posh were relegated to League Two in 2005 and had spent two and a half years there under Sir Alex's son took the reigns in his first managerial job in January 2007. He steered the Posh to 10^th that season but since then successive promotion (both the automatic route) has brought the London Road side back to the second tier of English football for the first time since 1994.

They haven't been able to continue their winning form in 2009-2010 though and have won just two of their 14 matches- one of which was last week, 3-0 against Scunthorpe. They are pretty tight defensively however, conceding just 23 goals- the best record in the bottom six and four of their seven defeats have been by just a one goal margin.

Three league wins in a row for Mark Robins side has been followed by back to back defeats which has put them back on the cusp of the relegation fight. Defeat against the Posh would equal their worst run of the season when they lost to Coventry, Preston and Leicester in a row.

Last six 2009-2010 Results

Peterborough:

27/10/09 Blackburn 5-2 Peterborough (League Cup)

24/10/09 Peterborough 3-0 Scunthorpe (Championship)

20/10/09 Doncaster 3-1 Peterborough (Championship)

17/10/09 Bristol City 1-1 Peterborough (Championship)

3/10/09 Peterborough 1-2 Nottingham Forest (Championship)

29/9/09 Peterborough 1-2 Plymouth (Championship)

W: 1 D: 1 L: 4 F: 9 A: 13 GD: -4 Points 4

Barnsley:

27/10/09 Barnsley 0-2 Manchester United (League Cup)

24/10/09 Barnsley 2-3 Bristol City (Championship)