 Tuesday, 8th Dec 2009 06:00 Boss Roy Keane says he will make changes for Town’s first ever league game against Peterborough United at Portman Road this evening (KO 7.45pm). The Blues have no significant new injury problems but Keane wants to keep his squad fresh with three matches in a week. The Town manager said: “There’s a good chance I’ll change it around because we’ve got three games in seven days. There are players coming back to fitness, Stern John, Garvs hasn’t played much football over the last month and Quinner picked up a knock on Saturday. “I certainly won’t be starting the same team in three games in a week, I don’t work that way. We always freshen teams up, I tend to bring in the three subs on most games.” Keane was pleased with his team’s display at Bristol City on Saturday even if they couldn’t take the opportunities which would have brought them the three points: “We had the better of the possession, we looked quite strong, particularly in the latter part of the game and we had the chances, but we didn’t take them. The lack of goals has been a big problem since the start of the season. “But the pluses are that for eight games now we’ve looked very, very solid. We look strong, the spirit is good, we stuck at it and if we keep playing like that and creating chances, no doubt the victories will come. “Fitness levels are very, very good, the players looked very strong in the last 20 minutes. As an away team we looked like the home team.” While his strikers have faced criticism, Keane says Bristol City’s Dean Gerken had a big part to play in Town failing to take their opportunities at Ashton Gate: “I keep talking about the chances we’re missing, but sometimes you’ve got to praise the goalkeepers because sometimes they’re making very good saves against us, which was the case at the weekend against Steady and Pablo. “We’ll always look at the strikers and say, ‘You should be scoring’, but credit to the opposition goalkeepers. The important thing is for our strikers to keep getting in there and eventually they’ll score.” The Blues boss was happy with his own keeper Arran Lee-Barrett’s performance in his first start for Town: “I don’t think he had too much to do, same as the previous weekend at Cardiff. But when he did have things to do, he looked assured. “As I said after the Cardiff game, he’s got a good presence about him, he doesn’t look flustered, his kicking was fine and we’re delighted with Arran. “The danger is if he gets an injury, if it’s on a matchday or in training. That’s the big concern we’re going to have and that won’t leave us until January when we can get another keeper in.” The former Hartlepool man will make his home debut for the Blues in goal with the defence likely to be unchanged having been the key to Town’s eight-match unbeaten run. Liam Rosenior and David Wright will continue as the full-backs with Gareth McAuley and Damien Delaney the centre-halves. Keane could make one or two changes to his midfield. Alan Quinn picked up a minor knock at Bristol City but is unlikely to miss out, while Carlos Edwards could well come back into the side at right midfield having impressed as a sub at Bristol City. On the left, Owen Garvan looks likely to be left out of the starting line-up for one of this week’s two home games. However, the Irishman could keep his place for the visit of Posh and miss out when Blackpool are at Portman Road on Saturday. Grant Leadbitter will continue in the centre, while Lee Martin, who missed the trip to Bristol with a heel injury, Liam Trotter, Colin Healy and Jaime Peters will all be looking to return to the side. Jon Walters could move back up front if Edwards returns, probably alongside Stern John, with two of Jon Stead, Pablo Couñago and Connor Wickham on the bench. Wickham was rested on Saturday having played in the FA Youth Cup tie on Wednesday. Keane says Luciano Civelli’s recovery from his knee ligament injury has stalled in recent weeks and he the Argentinian is now unlikely to be back until the end of January at best: “Luciano’s a bit slow at the moment, he’ll certainly be another month or so.” The Blues boss says Alex Bruce won’t play in either of this week’s home games: “Alex is hoping to do a bit of running this week, but won’t be involved in any of the games this week. He may be back for the Scunthorpe game, but he had a tear in his groin area, so another week or two at least I would have thought.” Keane says David Norris is getting closer to his return: “We’re all looking forward to getting David back in the group, his energy and his good play. When you consider we lost him in the first game of the season, he’s been a big loss to us, there’s no getting away from it. “Hopefully, there might be a practice game organised in the next week or two to get him in the swing of things. He’s been doing the warm-ups with us and possession, the next step is to going into proper tackles and hopefully that will be this week.” Keane says his side will win if they match their recent displays and take their opportunities: “We hope to put on a good performance, whether we can win the game is up to the players. If we get the chances we’ve got to take them. “We’ve already lost to Peterborough earlier in the season in the cup, which was disappointing. They’ve had a change of manager and what they’ve done over the last couple of weeks is show battling qualities in terms of their spirit, scoring a couple of late goals. “It’s going to be a big battle on Tuesday night, but hopefully our quality will come through in the end. But we’re taking nothing for granted, we’ve already been beaten by Peterborough, we don’t want to lose to them again.” Keane, speaking yesterday, said he’s “well aware” that there were only 12 points between the relegation places and the play-offs, 13 since last night’s Watford victory over QPR: “Sixth spot seems available to a lot of teams, even well down towards the bottom of the table. That’s the beauty of the Championship. “That gives you a great opportunity. If you can go on any sort of run, three, four, five victories, you’re soon up that table. “Don’t get me wrong, 12 points is still a lot, especially when you’ve won two league games all season, but we’ve given ourselves a chance by being a bit more solid and with the fitness of the players. “We’re not giving up on this season, we’re going to keep battling away and see what happens come the end of the season.” Peterborough currently sit bottom of the Championship on 13 points, four behind the Blues. Their away record stands at won none, drawn three, lost six. They have taken just one point from their last six away games while conceding 15 goals. New manager Mark Cooper, who took over from Darren Ferguson towards the end of last month, says his side is lacking belief: "I'm not sure we believe we can win games. We were much the better side in the second half [on Saturday] and we could have been 2-0 or 3-0 up before Swansea scored their first goal. "And when you are at the bottom of the table and you miss the sort of chances we had you sort of know what's coming. "It's what happens when you are not used to winning matches. You get nervous and you often get punished. The players have to believe in themselves like I believe in them. "There was a lot to admire in our performance, but we have to learn to win again. I can't fault the effort or the commitment the players gave though. "There are not many teams who could come back from the blow of falling behind in injury time to get a draw, but we did it. "The resilience of the players is first class. That gives me confidence that we can get out of trouble." Cooper says getting back to winning ways at Portman Road is important: "We have our own little league going on at the bottom of the table, so it's a big game for us." Peterborough have striker Shaun Batt back from a one-match suspension, but defender Gabriel Zakuani is not expected to be back from a groin injury, while Charlie Lee has been suffering with a dead leg. Tuesday’s game is the first ever league meeting between the sides. In cups, the teams have met on five occasions with Posh winning three times, the Blues once and one game ending in a draw. The most recent of those matches came in August in the second round of the Carling Cup at London Road when Peterborough came from behind to win 2-1 after Tamás Priskin had netted his first goal for Town and also missed a penalty. Lee Freckington and George Boyd scored for the home side. No current Town player has spent time with Peterborough and no Posh player has played a first team game for the Blues, although defender Ryan Bennett, who is on loan from Grimsby, was released at 16 by the Town academy and Josh Simpson, on loan from Histon, and Chris Whelpdale were also schoolboys at Playford Road. The Blues were keeping a regular watch on left-back Scott Griffiths earlier on in the season before he joined Peterborough from Dagenham and Redbridge on loan with a view to a permanent move. Keeper-coach James Hollman worked with Posh glovesman Joe Lewis during their time together at Norwich. Issue 99 of the fanzine is available from our sellers around the ground (by Sir Alf, Planet Blue and the Portman Road entrance to the Greene King Stand) prior to the game. Alternatively, you can buy a single issue or subscription here. Tuesday’s referee is Andy Hall from the West Midlands, who has shown 65 yellow and five red cards in 18 matches so far this season. Hall’s most recent Town match was the 2-0 defeat at Bristol City in December 2007. Squad from: Lee-Barrett, McLoughlin, Rosenior, D Wright, Delaney, McAuley, Smith, Leadbitter, Quinn, Garvan, Edwards, Walters, Colback, Peters, Martin, Healy, Trotter, John, Stead, Couñago, Priskin, Wickham.
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