Bostwick doubt for first friendly

Michael Bostwick is the major doubt for Posh as they approach their first pre-season friendly of the season at St Albans City on Saturday (3pm kick-off ).

Bostwick returned early from the club’s training camp to deal with a family matter so is unlikely to be fit enough to take part at Clarence Park.

Trialist right-back Liam Shephard is expected to play though. Posh boss Grant McCann wants to see the former Swansea player in match action before making a decision on whether or not to sign him.

Posh are understood to be tracking another rightback having failed to persuade Tony McMahon to leave Bradford City.

McCann will field two separate teams at St Albans with no player seeing more than 45 minutes of action.

Posh could also start with a new formation as it’s expected the midfield diamond will be ditched in favour of a similar system (three centre-backs, two wing-backs) Chelsea used to win the Premier League last season.

“I have the players who can play that system well,” McCann insisted. “But we will have several formations we will be able to use and I expect to play more than one at St Albans.

“Liam Shephard has done well in training. He’s a grounded lad who has experienceof the Football League at Yeovil so he wouldn’t be coming straight from a Premier League academy which is important.

“I want to see him in a couple of matches before making a final decision though.”

Clarence Park can be found at 1, York Street, St Albans, AL14PL.

Admission is £10 for adults, £7 concessions and £3 for juniors.

St Albans finished 10th in the National South League last season. They are managed by former Arsenal player Ian Allinson.