Jeff Hughes says Wednesday’s Capital One Cup first round tie against Notts County will be a chance for Fleetwood to show how far the club have progressed.
The Northern Ireland international midfielder will be making a quick return to Meadow Lane in only his second game for Town after he joined Fleetwood from Notts County this summer.
Town narrowly lost to out County’s local neighbours Nottingham Forest in the first round of the competition last year, but Hughes insists he is going to do no favours for his old friends and wants Fleetwood to lay down a marker in only the second competitive game of the season.
Speaking to www.fleetwoodtownfc.com Hughes said: “We don’t really want to go anywhere thinking you’re going to get beaten, even if you’re going to play a Premier League team, you can’t go into the game with a defeatist attitude. We know Notts are a very good team; I know personally that Notts are a very good team. Maybe they are just missing a 20 goal a season man to be up in the top six in League 1. It is a good marker to see where we are.
“It’s nice to go back and see a lot of my friends. I had two-and-a-half good years there, I enjoyed my time there, it’s a club I will always look out for their results and I always hope they do well.”
The 28-year-old is looking forward to returning to Meadow Lane, but after two-and-a-half successful years with the Magpies, he does not know whether or not he will get a good reception from the fans when he crosses the white line this evening.
“I don’t know, I never know (whether he will get a good reception). I am not one of those players that look at websites and see what fans think. I’m not sure; I just know I personally had a good time there.”
Manager Graham Alexander has not approached the midfielder asking for any tips ahead of the game and the midfielder insists the manager has been solely focused on getting Fleetwood to play in the right way instead of worrying about Town’s opponents.
“No he hasn’t yet. He’s got a way of playing and how he wants to play and he sets it up that way rather worrying about what the other team is going to do.”
Notts County lost in their opening game of the season as they kicked off the 2013/14 campaign with a 2-1 away defeat at Sheffield United as part of the Football League’s 125th anniversary games.
Hughes admits he watched the game, and even sent messages to his former team-mates ahead of the fixture at Bramall Lane and was disappointed that lost the match.
“There was a couple of the old lads texting each other, and I text the lads wishing them well before the game, anytime they are on TV or after the game on the Saturday’s I always look out for their results and I watched them Friday night and hoped they could get a draw to be honest.”
Looking back at Saturday’s victory over Dagenham & Redbridge, the midfielder opened his scoring and admits Alexander has called for his midfielders to chip in with more goals over the course of the season and Hughes was all too happy to oblige.
“Strangely enough there was two Notts fans at the game on Saturday too. I spoke to them after the game. It was a great result for the club all round with the three new boys as well.
“We need that, the gaffer says we could with a few more midfielders chipping in with goals so hopefully I can provide that this year.”
In only their second Capital One Cup game, Fleetwood will be looking to be in Thursday’s second round draw when Premier League teams begin to be added to the draw and Hughes believes progressing to the next round would be a further boost to the club.
“It helps revenue and fans and if you can get to third round and get a big team, that always helps. But we have Notts to face first.”
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