Manager on Partick, Stephen Crainey and Open Day
Graham Alexander was impressed with his Fleetwood Town side in their final pre-season friendly despite failing to find a way past Partick Thistle at Highbury.The match against the SPL side was the Cod Army’s final pre-season match ahead of the start of the Club’s first season in the third tier which starts next weekend on Saturday 9th August at home to Crewe Alexandra.
Assessing the team’s final run-out before the competitive football starts next week Alexander said: “I thought there was some excellent football played by both teams to be fair but I was really impressed with our players today.
“I thought they defended as we want to defend and worked really well against a good opponent, we just needed to take a couple of those chances we had.”
Looking ahead to the big kick-off next Saturday Alexander was keen to mention that the side who faced the Jags was not necessarily the same side that will start against Crewe: “That wasn’t exactly the final team.”
He added: “We were using these two games to get minutes into the players we thought could possibly play next week. I thought all the players today, as well as the ones who came on did their best to stake their claim for a place in the team.”
Reflecting on the intensity of the Club’s two matches against Scottish opposition the 42-year-old said: “I remember the games when I was playing myself against Scottish clubs, it was a bit of a England v Scotland
battle sort of atmosphere which was good and I think there are some very, very good players up in Scotland.”
As well as playing their final pre-season match of the season Fleetwood Town were also able to announce the signing of former Blackpool and Scotland defender Stephen Crainey.
Talking about the signing of the former Scotland international left-back who was sat in the stands watching his new teammates the manager expressed his delight: “Hopefully he’ll have seen a very good team and think he can improve it.
“He’ll have to play well if he’s to get in it first and foremost. We’re very pleased to have got him onboard and just can’t wait to see him in action.”
On Tuesday the Club will be hosting an open training session at Highbury for the fans to attend which is something Alexander is hoping will bring the club as a whole closer together: “The lads will be mixing with the supporters and vice versa, it’ll be good to see.
“Hopefully we can get as many numbers as possible to make it an entertaining day.”
For full information on the Open Day please click here