Sheffield Wednesday v Peterborough: Posh have potential to cause Owls more grief

Wednesday have not won at home in the league for three months and the odds are heavily stacked against them changing those fortunes tonight with visitors Peterborough United the form team in League One and the top scorers in all four divisions.

Posh have plundered 82 goals in 35 games this season, 57 of those coming at London Road with six added in the rout of Carlisle on Saturday and five netted against the Owls’ when the two sides met in February.

On the road, they have managed a more modest 25, still enough to be the fifth highest in the third tier and a telling factor in their rise to third place and within a point of Huddersfield Town in the second promotion spot.

Darren Ferguson’s side have collected 16 points from their last six games.

Wednesday, by contrast, cannot buy a win at home. They have not claimed three points in front of their own fans since December 11, a sequence of five games.

Victories at Carlisle and Oldham in recent weeks have not been built on, with drab home performances culminating in recent defeats to Plymouth and then Notts County on Saturday when, but for goalkeeper Nicky Weaver, they could have lost by more.

“We have to defend much better against Peterborough,” observed manager Gary Megson, who is yet to celebrate a win in front of the club’s home fanbase since his appointment as Owls manager on February 4.

“Peterborough have two of the best forwards in this division in Craig Mackail-Smith and George Boyd.”

Megson is asking for more from his own front men, and has his fingers crossed that £400,000 striker Gary Madine will be fit to face Peterborough having failed to shake off a calf injury that ruled him out of the defeat to Notts County.

Megson said: “We need ‘legs’ in the team; there’s not enough running capability in the team and not enough know-how at the back.”

Isaiah Osbourne is also a fitness doubt after sustaining a knock on his knee in the defeat to the Magpies.

Meanwhile, international call-ups for Reda Johnson and Liam Palmer have resulted in a fixture switch for the Owls.

The club’s home game with Tranmere Rovers scheduled for Tuesday, March 22, has been moved to Tuesday, April 5, at 7.45pm.