Peterborough sweat on fitness of attacking duo ahead of important trip to Portsmouth

Marcus Maddison, who has scored 10 goals in 20 appearances this season, sat out Posh’s EFL Trophy exit at the hands of Ipswich because of illness.

Meanwhile Siriki Dembele had to go to hospital after Wednesday night’s penalty shoot-out defeat against the Tractor Boys with a suspected broken wrist.

He completed the fill 90 minutes, before missing his spot-kick in the loss.

Manager Darren Ferguson, who is already without Frazer Blake-Tracy for the trip to Fratton Park, told the Peterborough Telegraph: ‘He (Dembele) fell awkwardly quite late on in the game.

‘I could see him running with it, and he just felt it, and there is a lot of pain there.

‘We will have to check how everybody is in the morning (Thursday).

‘We are hopeful Maddison should be alright and we hope it's not a break for Dembele.’

Pompey go into the game against Posh boosted by news that both Tom Naylor and Ross McCrorie returned to training this week following hamstring injuries.

McCrorie started Tuesday night’s Leasing.com Trophy win against Northampton as he got some much-needed minutes under his belt.

Naylor sat out the tie but is likely to start against Peterborough.

Saturday’s visitors sit third in the League One table – seven places and four points above the Blues, who have a game in hand.