AARON McLean is a returning messiah at Peterborough according to his former manager and current Swindon Town chief Mark Cooper.

Cooper had the services of McLean in his two-month spell in charge of the Posh but will be hoping his former charge is not on top form on Saturday.

Despite the striker only scored one goal during Cooper’s tenure at London Road he was prolific otherwise in his Posh career, scoring 83 times in 187 games before moving into the Premier League with Hull.

Since then the striker’s goalscoring prowess has not been quite so evident, partly why he finds himself back at London Road, having failed to get into the Bradford City side this season.

However Cooper believes that McLean’s reappearance will be a boost to a side who have not won a league game in four.

“Aaron McClean’s gone back there – he’s the messiah there and scored an awful lot of goals,” said the Swindon chief.

“We’ll have to deal with that if he plays and the energy that brings to their crowd and their team.

“I would think he will start and we will have to deal with that energy that he will bring and the excitement and lift it will give their supporters, we have to deal with that. We have to make it hard for them as well.

“He’s not played a great deal but for a certain amount of time he’ll bring a lot of energy to them and we have to be able to deal with him.”

Cooper’s first-hand experience with the 31-year-old hitman should serve Town well, with the manager able to advise his defenders technically on how to deal with a buoyant McLean.

“As a player you have affinity with certain clubs and you always have a place you feel as though you belong and I’m sure Aaron feels that way about Peterborough,” Cooper added.

“He’s a great lad, he works his socks off on the football pitch, I think we saw that when we were at Bradford.

“He came on and gave it a go while he was on the pitch. He’s brilliant in the air for his size, very, very strong. In and around the box he can be lethal, so I’ll make the players aware of his threats.”