Defender makes good first impression with the Cod Army
Stephen Crainey enjoyed a fine debut in the red and white jersey of Fleetwood Town on Saturday afternoon and played a big part in the Club’s first ever away success in League One.The 33 year-old, who signed from Championship side Wigan Athletic at the start of the month but was named on the bench for the opening two games.
However, he started the trip to Meadow Lane where Jamie Proctor’s header on the stroke of half time made it two wins out of two for the Cod Army.
Talking to the Club’s website after the victory, the debutant said: “I thought it was a near perfect away performance; we were solid at the back and we looked threatening going forward. We were delighted to get three points in the end.”
Crainey came in and looked assured alongside Conor McLaughlin, Nathan Pond and Stephen Jordan: “It was tough for me because I missed pre-season with a calf injury so I’ve only trained a week with the lads. I thought I would have struggled a bit fitness wise but I was fine when I was out there.”
Proctor was the match winner for Town when he netted his second Fleetwood goal just before the interval, but Crainey paid testament to the whole squad for their performance: “It was a great goal from Proc and a great ball in from Josh, but it was a collective performance and even the boys who came on did well. Six points out of six is a great start to the season for us.”
Crainey has his feet firmly on the ground however, and insists that the Club must take one game at a time, with Scunthorpe United up next: “You can see there’s a bit of confidence in the squad and that was one thing I noticed straight away when I came into the Club. We don’t want to get carried away though because it’s only two games into the season, and we go into Tuesday night full of confidence now.”