Peterborough V Norwich at London Road Ground - Match Preview




Gayle blow for Posh

Peterborough will be without in-form striker Dwight Gayle when they host Norwich in the FA Cup.

Gayle has scored seven goals in nine appearances for Posh since arriving on loan from Dagenham & Redbridge but the 22-year-old is cup-tied for the third-round tie having played in the Daggers' first-round defeat to Bournemouth at the start of November.

Boss Darren Ferguson will be forced to make two further changes to the team that started the npower Championship win over Barnsley on New Year's Day.

Lee Tomlin was allowed to play in that game despite being sent off in the defeat at Bristol City as Posh appealed against the red card. However, the appeal has failed and the forward will now begin a three-match suspension.

Defender Gaby Zakuani has since left to link up with the DR Congo squad ahead of their African Nations' Cup campaign.

Ryan Bennett is hoping to impress his footballing mentor by knocking him out of the FA Cup.

The Norwich defender will return to his old club for his first competitive game there since leaving for Carrow Road last January.

And that pitches him against Ferguson, the boss who gave him his big break in the game.

Ferguson signed him from Grimsby while in the first of his two spells at London Road and Bennett admits he owes his Premier League status to the son of Manchester United manager Sir Alex.

Bennett said: "I owe more to him than the club. He was the one that gave me the opportunity to step up from League Two into the Championship. Working with him taught me a lot in terms of being a professional and as a person.

"He opened my eyes a lot to how hard you needed to work to be where you wanted to be.

"Then he left and we had a lot of different managers and things didn't really go my way. There was talk of me leaving because the (new) manager didn't really fancy me.

"That's football. Football is about opinions and his (Ferguson's) opinion is obviously quite high of me and I will thank him for that until the day I retire.

"When he came back, he showed faith in me again. It turned out to be one of the most successful times I've had in my career so far. I owe a lot to him."

Norwich manager Chris Hughton wants to give a chance to some peripheral members of his squad and revealed Declan Rudd will play in goal.

Norwich, however, will be without injured strikers Grant Holt and Steve Morison as they look to return to winning ways with a crucial Premier League match against Newcastle coming up in a week's time.

Hughton said: "I will use the squad because we have got real good competition and there are players who have been unfortunate not to have played more games. It (the FA Cup) possibly has lost a little bit, but it is still a competition we want to make progress in."


Source: PA

Source: PA