Town draw final pre-season friendly against SPL outfit
The Cod Army were held to a 0-0 draw by Scottish Premier League outfit Partick Thistle in the club’s last pre-season match ahead of the start of the League One season next weekend.Scott Fox in the Partick goal was in fine form having to prevent Fleetwood scoring pulling off a number of saves to deny the Cod Army the goal their pressure deserved.
The visitors were the first to assert themselves as Kallum Higginbottom forced Chris Maxwell into a good save down to his left in just the first minute.
However, for the majority of the first half it was the hosts who were on top and should have taken the lead in just the fourth minute as David Ball was played through one-on-one but could only fire straight at the onrushing Fox.
Nathan Pond was the next to spurn a golden chance in the 19th minute as he was found unmarked in the Partick box after Steven Schumacher and Josh Morris exchanged passes from a short corner but mistimed his header from eight yards.
Morris, Jamille Matt and Schumacher all had decent goalscoring opportunities before Antoni Sarcevic chipped a ball into Ball in the 28th minute, however he was unable to add any power to his header which was easy for Fox to save.
Partick were almost gifted a goal two minutes before the break when Pond headed the ball back to Maxwell after a long throw into the Cod Army box by Stephen O’Donnell.
It was Ball again who was left to rue a missed chance on the stroke of half-time as he was again thwarted by Fox after being sent through on goal by his strike-partner Matt after some brilliant hold up play.
After the interval the Scots again were first to imposed themselves as Steven Lawless let fly from 25-yards leaving Maxwell scrambling only for the effort to go wide.
Alan Archibald’s men had another good chance to take the lead in the 58th minute as O’Donnell played in a right-wing cross though Stevenson, in the middle, was unable to reach it.
Moments later Fleetwood broke away and were only denied by a fantastic save by Fox who stopped a dipping 25-yard Sarcevic effort which seemed destined for the top corner.
Gareth Evans was the next to try his luck on the hour mark and after receiving the ball on the edge of the box from Sarcevic he got away from the Partick defence with a neat bit of footwork only to see his powerful shot whistle over the top of the bar.
Ball had his final chance just a minute later chasing down a long ball before attempting to chip the visitor’s goalkeeper who was able to backtrack and catch his attempt.
As the game reached its finale Graham Alexander shuffled the pack replacing Ball with new frontman Jamie Proctor as well as replacing Evans with Matty Blair while Partick made a number of changes.
There was time for one final chance as man of the match Matt was sent through one-on-one but was yet again stopped by the Scottish-outfit’s goalkeeper meaning the Cod Army were unable to finish pre-season with a win before starting their League One campaign at home to Crewe Alexandra next Saturday.
Attendance: 2,029
Fleetwood: Maxwell, Hogan, Pond, Jordan, McLaughlin, Schumacher, Morris, Sarcevic, Evans, Ball, Matt
Subs: S.Davies, T.Davies, Proctor (Ball 72), Cresswell, Blair (Evans 78), Murdoch, Hughes (Matt 90)
Partick: Fox, O’Donnell, McMillan, Osman, Muirhead,, Balatoni, Higginbottom, Fraser, Doolan, Stevenson, Lawless
Subs: Gallacher, Elliot (Higginbottom 64), Keeenan, Craigen (Doolan 56), McDaid, Wilson (Fraser 83), Duggan (Stevenson 80)