First start of season for defender
Fleetwood Town v Accrington Stanley
By Alan Goodall naturally said he was delighted to be back in the first team fold after making his first appearance of the season in Fleetwood’s 3-1 win over Lancashire rivals Accrington Stanley.
The 32-year-old defender played in a somewhat unorthodox position after Graham Alexander deployed him in the middle of the park in a 4-4-2 formation to add more steel and protection to the back four.
The tactical change by Town’s manager paid off, though, as Fleetwood ended a run of three consecutive defeats to move back into the Sky Bet League 2 play-off places.
“It’s been a long time over due, but I am happy to be back involved and it was good to get a win,” Goodall said following Fleetwood’s 3-1 win.
“I think as long as you do everything right, you keep training properly, and hopefully the gaffer will pick you and change his mind.
“You have to just keep working hard to try and get a place. A lot of boys have come in and done really well, there’s a lot of good competition for places, so it’s been hard but I have been working and thankfully I have got a shout today.”
Goodall admitted he relished playing in his new role on Wednesday afternoon adding: “I loved it. I played there a couple of weeks ago in a reserve game, which I enjoyed, and the gaffer has followed that up in training.
“I have been doing a lot of work in training with that and he has give me a shout today so I was delighted.”
Goodall was pencilled in to start for Town against Wycombe Wanderers a few days earlier, but after the game was postponed due to a frozen pitch twenty minutes before kick off, Goodall expressed his relief that Alexander decided to stick with the same team for the visit of Accrington and is hoping he has done enough to cement his place for their away trip to Dagenham & Redbridge a week on Saturday.
“I was devastated so I am just happy he kept the same team and it paid off today.
“It was magnificent,” he said speaking about the 3-1 win over Accrington. “It was just what we needed. We need to kick on from here and move back up the league.
“David and Jon both put a great shift in and scored two great and deserved goals.
“I was a bit worse for wear, but I am sure I will be all right. We have a little bit of a break now, which will get us ready for the next game now (against Dagenham & Redbridge).
“Hopefully he will keep me in and I am going to work hard in training so we will see what happens.
“I will be working hard in training and hopefully the gaffer will put me in again, hopefully we can put in a similar performance and get another three points.”