Fleetwood Town finished their pre-season training camp with a second friendly game, this time against German opposition. Third Division full-timers, SV Wacker Burghausen, were the hosts on a hot summer’s evening in Bavaria.
Graham Alexander used the game to give pitch-time to the majority of the squad, with only new signing Stephen Jordan, Dean Howell and Dave Lucas not involved.
The match was played at a good tempo throughout and saw honours even in the first half with chances at both ends. Jamille Matt saw one back header go just over, whilst Ryan Crowther shot wide from 10 yards out following good work on the left by Brown.
At the other end Scott Davies pulled off a couple of straight forward stops as the teams went in in for the break at 0-0. Half Time saw just one Town substitution as Ball replaced Matt.
Town had the first opportunity of the second half as Schumacher took a free kick to the left of the box on 50 minutes, but the effort went well wide.
The opposition also had a free kick in a dangerous position soon afterwards, but it was blocked by the wall.
Town then made further substitutions with Beeley, Blair, Evans, Pond and Sarcevic taking to the field.
Allen made an immediate impact with a crunching challenge which floored the Wacker right back. Five minutes later though Allen gave away a penalty as Tobias Schrock danced his way into the box on the left, and was tripped as he made progress. Marko Holz then stepped up to convert the penalty 78th minute penalty.
Parkin then replaced Murdoch, and was unlucky not to equalise with virtually the last kick of the game as he latched on to a through ball, made his way into the box but a leg from OlcayTurhan just got in the way of what looked like a certain goal.
Despite the scoreline the match was an extremely worthwhile excersize with Burghausen proving to be perfect opposition at this stage of Pre-Season.
It’s now on to a week on Saturday as PNE visit Highbury for the eagerly awaited Nathan Pond Testimonial. Make sure you join us on a special day.
Fleetwood: Davies, Hogan (Beeley 61), Roberts, McLaughlin, Goodall (Blair 61), Crowther (Evans 61), Brown (Pond 61), Hughes (Allen 71), Murdoch (Parkin 78), Schumacher (Sarcevic 61), Matt (Ball 46)
Full Time
SV Wacker Burghausen 1 -0 Fleetwood Town (HT 0-0)
(78 Holz – pen.)
Attendance: Approx 300