Team news for Peterborough United - latest on Sam Hoskins as Cobblers battle fatigue
Sam Hoskins has told Kevin Nolan he will be available for the Nene Derby on Saturday after coming off with injury in midweek.
The 33-year-old stand-in skipper, who now has 452 Cobblers appearances to his name, took a whack in the second half of Tuesday’s defeat to Port Vale and was swiftly replaced, but he trained on Thursday.
Nesta Guinness-Walker is suffering from fatigue after starting all of the last 17 league games, and he is not the only one battling tiredness after a relentless recent schedule.
"Sam's unbelievable,” said Nolan. “You can see why he has so many appearances because he will run through a brick wall for you. He's been great since I walked into the club. He's had some knocks and injuries but he walked in today and said 'I'm fine gaffer, I'm ready to go' and that's brilliant. We're as good as we can be.
"Going from Saturday to Tuesday every week is having a massive impact on our players. We're trying to rest them and give them days off as much as we can but it does take its toll.
"There's not much else we can do with the lads who have been playing regularly so it's been more about doing individual stuff and trying to clear their heads and getting them focused and ready for Saturday.”
Cobblers must improve their attacking play if they are to have any chance of beating Peterborough on Saturday.
"We have to keep believing in what we’re doing and do more of it,” Nolan added. “The emphasises is on us in possession because we want to be on the front foot, we want to be putting balls in behind and we want to be putting balls in the box.
"These are all things we talk about and work on and we’ve been doing all season but at the moment it’s just not dropping for us in the box. We need a bit more composure but we will remain together and keep going.”