Barton: We were the
FLEETWOOD Town manager Joey Barton revealed he challenged his side to respond to Sunderland’s firsthalf performance.
And the former Newcastle United midfielder felt the Cod Army deserved their 1-1 draw in Friday night’s clash – and were the side looking to win the game at the final whistle.
Second-half goals from Charlie Wyke and Callum Connolly meant a game of few clear-cut chances ended all square.
And Barton was proud of his side’s efforts. “I think on reflection that is probably the right result,” he said.
“In the first half Sunderland were the aggressor and they were pushing us back into our half and they dictated the game and owned their territory to us.
“I had to challenge the lads at halftime because we have been on a good run of late and we knew we had to get a foothold in the game.
“Second half we were brilliant, we set the tone and we had them pinned back but against the run of play a punt
over the top has bounced in between our defence and there has been a bit of a mix-up but credit to their lad he has nicked in behind and finished it away.”
Barton is delighted Fleetwood could now compete with the division’s big clubs such as Sunderland.
“It’s a huge charter to see how far we have come as a football club in terms of the progress made – to be able to play teams like Sunderland, Ipswich, and the like,” he added.
“Sunderland are normally defensively resilient, but credit to our lads we never got disappointed or felt sorry for themselves, but in the midst of all of the action you have got another near goal of the season contender from Camps, he could have his own competition at the end of the season a little bit like a League One Matt Le Tissier....i thought we were the side who tried to win the game, we were unlucky, you speak of little old Fleetwood challenging the likes of Sunderland and being disappointed that we haven’t taken away maximum points.”