The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Godden’s goal is a place in the team
Correct score Posh to win: 1-0: 9/1
2-0: 14/1
2-1: 10/1
3-0: 33/1
3-1: 25/1
3-2: 33/1
4-0: 80/1
4-1: 66/1
4-2: 80/1
Draw: 0-0: 11/1 1-1: 11/2 Blackpool to win 1-0: 8/1
2-0: 11/1
2-1: 17/2
3-0: 22/1
3-1: 16/1
3-2: 28/1
4-0: 50/1
4-1: 40/1
4-2:50/1
2-2: 12/1 3-3: 50/1
First goalscorer: 4/1 Toney (Posh), Gnanduillet (Pool), 5/1 Godden (Posh), Tomlin (Posh), Maddison (Posh), 6/1 Delfouneso (Pool), 7/1 Cooper (Posh), Dembele (Posh), Stevens (Posh), Long (Pool), 8/1 Ward (Posh), Reed (Posh), Cooke (Posh), Dempsey (Posh), 10/1 Taylor (Pool), 12/1 Spearing (Pool), Thompson (Pool), 16/1 Lafferty (Posh), Naismith (Posh), Woodyard (Posh), 20/1 White (Posh).
Matt Godden could replace £600k striker Ivan Toney in the Posh starting line-up for the crucial League One game at Blackpool on Saturday.
Godden impressed manager Darren Ferguson with his goalscoring appearance as a second-half substitute in the 2-0 win over Gillingham last weekend.
Godden had previously only scored in one League One game in 2019. He scored twice in 4-2 win over Wycombe, a game strike partner and rival Ivan Toney missed because of suspension.
Posh have been playing one up front in recent weeks to accommodate flair players Marcus Maddison, Lee Tomlin and Siriki Dembele.
Tomlin played with a slight groin injury against Gillingham and came off midway through the second half, but he is fully fit now.
“Matt was very good when he came on,” Posh boss Darren Ferguson admitted. “He gave us great energy, he won his headers and he scored a quality goal.
“He’s given me a decision to make for Saturday, but Ivan has his strengths as well. At his best he holds the ball up and helps us get up the pitch.”
Ferguson accepts Posh, will have to up their game again to get the three points at Bloomfield Road.
Blackpool have finally rid themselves of an unpopular owner and crowds have shot up as a result.
“It’s a big game for us obviously, but it’s also a very tough one,” Ferguson added. “A draw is unlikely to be good enough, but we will be playing against a club who are in a much happier place than the last time we played them.
“I have a lot of admiration for what the manager has done up there. It can’t have been easy to operate in those circumstances.
“They can still make the play-offs, but they will need to beat us so it should be a decent game.
“The pitch is still not the best there. It’s better than it was and we have played on similar surfaces many times so we won’t be using that as an excuse. I’m more concerned about their players. Striker Armand Gnanduillet is 6ft 6ins and a real handful and Jay Spearing makes them tick in midfield. We will have to deal with them.”
Winger Joe Ward and onloan centre-back Ben White should return to the Posh squad after missing the Gillingham game. Posh were robbed of victory in this fixture last season as Nathan Delfouneso bundled home Blackpool’s equaliser in a 1-1 draw with his arm. Jack Marriott had opened the scoring for Posh. Posh have won five and lost eight of 18 Football League visits to Bloomfield Road. Posh were last successful in March, 2013 when a Kane Ferdinand header proved to be the only goal in a Championship fixture.
Posh: Olejnik, Little, Knight-Percival, Bostwick, Zakuani, Rowe, Ferdinand, Payne, Tomlin, Barnett, Gayle. Subs used: Brisley, Newell, Mendez-Laing. The first meeting between the sides took place in the old Division Three in December, 1978 and that finished 0-0. Posh went on to be relegated.
Posh: Waugh, Hindley, Styles, Green Ross, Doyle, Robertson, Holman, Butlin, Anderson, Robson. Sub used: Sargeant. Big, powerful striker Armand Gnanduillet couldn’t save Chesterfield from relegation from the Football League last season, but he’s been a big hit at Blackpool since moving to Blooomfield Road in the summer.
The 27 year-old Frenchman is the club’s top scorer this season with 14 goals, 10 of them in League One.
Former Liverpool and Bolton midfielder Jay Spearing is the most well-known player in Blackpool’s overachieving squad, while goalkeeper Mark Howard played with distinction during his time at Sheffield United. Full-back Marc Bola was signed in the summer from Arsenal and that pedigree has shone through at times. Former Aston Villa forward Nathan Delfouneso has scored in his last two games for Blackpool against Posh. Blackpool were within minutes of ending Luton’s 27-game unbeaten run last weekend before former Posh striker Jason Cummings popped up with an equaliser for the Hatters.
But it’s now one win in six matches for Pool who haven’t won any of their last four home games in League One. Pool lost to Oxford before drawing with Southend, Doncaster and Plymouth. Among their victims at Bloomfield Road this season though are Coventry and Charlton. The League One play-offs look out of reach for Blackpool, but manager Terry McPhillips is determined not to let the season fizzle out.
Pool are now eight points adrift of sixth-placed Doncaster, but they would catch Posh on points if they beat them at Bloomfield Road on Saturday. “We’ll still be looking to win every game between now and the end of the season,” McPhillips said. “We’ve got some big games coming up and if we can play like we did at Luton last weekend, and show the same attitude and application, I’m sure we’ll do well in them. “We would have taken a draw at Luton last weekend before the game, but as Doncaster and Peterborough won it wasn’t a great result.”