Boss Paul Jewell appears set to recall midfielder Lee Martin as the Blues look to lay to rest the ghost of August’s 7-1 defeat at London Road when Peterborough visit Portman Road on Saturday. The 25-year-old, sent off in that thrashing, was rested for last week’s game at Hull due to tiredness and concerns about the heavy surface at the KC Stadium.
Jewell says his side go into Saturday’s game in a positive frame of mind after their recent run of one defeat in eight matches but without taking the opposition too lightly: "Confidence is high but there’s a fine line between confidence and being too cocky.
"We want to be confident but also wary and respectful of who we’re playing. We have to show every team we play respect, do our homework on them and try and stop them playing and try and force our undoubted ability on them.”
The Town boss says that renewed self-belief has come through endeavour: "It’s come through hard work really, and a little bit of luck at the right time.
"We’ve played well, even against Brighton I thought we were unfortunate to lose the game 3-0, the result didn’t tell the full story.
"We went to Southampton and we showed resilience and we’ve got to show that again over the next 11 games and beyond that.
"There’s a belief in the squad that when we go behind now we can get back into the game. That wasn’t there at certain times this season.
"I think back to even to Notts Forest and Reading, you could feel the anxiety in the team and that ended up costing us those two games.”
He says the fans are also increasingly confident in their side: "The spirit is there for everyone to see at the moment, and not just amongst the players, I think the spirit is there amongst the supporters as well.
"I think there was a time in this season where we’d lost our way a little bit and confidence was at a low ebb and the spirit is always questioned then.
"I think confidence was so low but now people have stepped up to the plate — Luke Hyam, Andy Drury, Lee Martin, Jason Scotland, Tommy Smith.
"These people have come into the team and have made the team and squad more competitive. There’s competition for places and that’s always a perfect situation for a manager.”
Jewell says revenge for August or rather tenuous claims of a local derby aren’t particularly in his thoughts: "I obviously care about the bragging rights because we want to be winning, but the most important thing is having a decent end to the season.
"We’ve got 11 games left and I don’t want the season just to drift because you can soon find yourself drifting at the wrong end of the table and we don’t want that. If we can, we want to try and keep the run we’re on going and try and build for next season.”
Jewell is likely to stick with Alex McCarthy in goal with Carlos Edwards and Aaron Cresswell the full-backs and Damien Delaney and Tommy Smith the centre-halves.
In central midfield, Grant Leadbitter is over the groin injury he suffered at Hull, where he scored both Town goals, and is expected to keep his place, probably alongside Andy Drury.
Daryl Murphy and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas look set to continue in the wide roles with Martin coming in for Jason Scotland in his regular position behind lone striker Michael Chopra probably the only change.
Jimmy Bullard is available again after his two-week club suspension but Jewell has confirmed that the midfielder won’t be involved at the weekend.
Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson, who has a fully fit squad from which to pick his side, promises that his team will come to Town with an attacking approach: "I had a look at the DVDs of matches that we have done well in and in those games we attacked the opposition, so that is going to be the mentality from now on.
"We have to play to our strengths. Ipswich have improved a lot since we played them and Paul Jewell and Ipswich deserve a lot of credit for that.”
In August, Town had two players sent off in the same match for the first time ever as Peterborough came from behind to win 7-1 at London Road.
Lee Martin and sub Tommy Smith — who had been on the field for less than a minute - saw red either side of half-time after Keith Andrews had put the Blues in front only for Lee Tomlin (3), Paul Taylor (2) and Grant McCann (2) to see Posh to their biggest ever win at Championship level.
The last time the teams met at Portman Road, in December 2009, they played out a 0-0 draw in what was the first ever league game between the sides.
Overall, Posh have the upper hand, winning five times (two in the league), two matches ending in draws (one) and the Blues winning once (none in the league). The visitors are currently two places and four points behind the Blues in 18th on 41.
Jimmy Bullard was with Posh between May 2001 and January 2003, making 73 starts and four sub appearances, scoring 14 goals. No member of the Peterborough squad has played for the Blues, although striker Tyrone Barnett was a player who was being eyed by manager Paul Jewell prior to his recent move to London Road from Crawley.
Saturday’s referee is Gary Sutton from Lincoln, who has shown 84 yellow cards and eight red in 29 games so far this season. Sutton’s most recent Town match was the 5-3 win at Barnsley in which he booked five Town players — David Stockdale, Ibrahima Sonko, Lee Martin, Keith Andrews and Michael Chopra - and no Tykes.
In his last Peterborough match, a 3-0 home defeat to Brighton in October 2010, Sutton showed an early straight red card to Posh midfielder George Boyd for a clash with Seagulls’ striker Ashley Barnes.
Squad from: McCarthy, Lee-Barrett, Edwards, Cresswell, Smith, Delaney, Sonko, Drury, Hyam, Leadbitter, Bowyer, Stevenson, Emmanuel-Thomas, Murphy, Carson, Martin, Chopra, Scotland.