Following a confidence-boosting win at their nearest neighbours, Accrington, on Tuesday, Fleetwood Town travel to the very edge of the Football League empire this weekend with a 650 mile round trip to
By David MitchellFollowing a confidence-boosting win at their nearest neighbours, Accrington, on Tuesday, Fleetwood Town travel to the very edge of the Football League empire this weekend with a 650 mile round trip to Plymouth Argyle.
The 3-0 victory took Town up to 8th with a game in hand over three of the four teams currently occupying the play-off positions. Town boss Graham Alexander praised the work rate of his team and called for a repeat performance this Saturday.
“I’m pleased to say we took our chances on Tuesday and made it difficult for Accrington. We worked on the opportunities and took them. It was a very good win for us.
“My thoughts for Plymouth are fairly similar to Accrington. We have to go there and compete. We have to be aggressive and organised and be professional. They are fighting for their lives and that will be a challenge for us. If we match them and go one better our quality players will win us the game.
“It will be the same message we had on Tuesday and we will show the same commitment we did the other day. No one can be underestimated in professional football and we certainly won’t do that to Plymouth. Each team has its own qualities and strengths regardless if they are at the bottom or the top of the table. We’ve already found that out to our cost against Aldershot and Bristol Rovers. We weren’t competitive and we got beat.”
Alexander singled out his front two partnership made up of hat trick hero Jon Parkin and David Ball.
“Jon’s a big player for us and has a fantastic goal record over his whole career and that is why he was brought to the club. I thought David Ball upfront also had a very good game and I thought it was one of his best games for us – at least since I’ve been here. His movement and quality on the ball was excellent. It’s just a shame he didn’t score the goal he deserved.
“We have goal threats throughout the squad but scoring has been a problem all season and that is reflected in our league position. Our defensive qualities are there for all to see but we have to score goals at the other end.
“We’ll go to Plymouth and carry-out a professional job with plenty of commitment.”
Plymouth's home draw with Capital One Cup finalists Bradford City on Tuesday took them off the bottom of the table and ahead of Accrington on goal difference. After a troubled period off the field, Argyle face the possibility of non-league football just six years after then manager Ian Holloway declared that his Championship side were good enough to be in the Premier League.
Manager John Sheridan took renewed hope from Tuesday's draw, his side having a late chance to secure all three points. Sheridan told the 'Plymouth Herald':
'I can't fault their effort and if they keep doing that I think we will win more games than we lose. We are working our socks off and it would have been great to get that goal at the end. It would have given everybody a massive lift.'
Speaking to Sky Sports, he added:
'Now we want to get out of the bottom two and Fleetwood on Saturday becomes a must-win game again.'
Despite gaining the point against Bradford, the Pilgrims have failed to score in four out of their last five games at Home Park. Sheridan has earmarked the signing of a new striker 'who can keep us in this division' as a priority.
Town won the Highbury fixture in November by 3-0.
