Fleetwood Town

David Ball scored his tenth goal of the campaign to put the Cod Army ahead in the first half with a sublime finish, before the Brewers got back into game minutes after the interval when Town captain Mark Roberts put through his own goal.

However, their lead didn’t last long as Pond rose highest in the box to head home Steven Schumacher’s corner.

Albion dug in though and levelled again, but it was more misfortune for Graham Alexander, as this time Stewart Murdoch was guilty of scoring an own goal.

The Cod Army showed character in abundance though, and scored a couple of late goals courtesy of Jon Parkin and Junior Brown which sealed all three points.

Speaking to the club’s official website after the pulsating encounter, Pond said: “It was a great game played in bad conditions as the surface wasn’t the best, but the lads showed great character. I was delighted to get my 50th goal for the club, but the three points was the main thing”.

The 28 year old defender admitted that he’d been waiting a long time for his 50th goal, but was over the moon after finally notching that elusive goal: “The lads have been getting onto me about it and asking me when is the 50th going to come, so I’m just delighted to get there now”.

With the game having been delayed an hour after some torrential downpours and thunder and lighting, Pond complimented referee Darren Drysdale for making the big call to play: “I was a bit worried about that because we came down the night before and stayed over, very much like Wycombe when that game was called off. The referee did well though by delaying it an hour”.

David Ball and Jon Parkin continued their rich vein of form, with both strikers netting important goals for the Lancashire outfit: They were on top for the first fifteen minutes as we were playing into the wind so that helped them a bit, but it was a great ball by Murdoch and a fantastic finish by Bally (David Ball) on the half volley. With the second goal, Scotty came out and punched it but Robbo (Mark Roberts) was just in the wrong place at the wrong time which was unfortunate for us”.

The beast Jon Parkin was the man of the moment, however, and put his side back in front on 77 minutes much to the delight of the travelling Cod Army: “We were under pressure for a bit when it was 2-2, but all credit to Conor as he was brilliant today and delivered a great ball into Jon who put us back in front. 

Junior Brown rounded off proceedings in stoppage time, with Mikael  Mandron, on-loan from Sunderland, getting his second assist in as many games: “Mika’s (Mikael Mandron) has done brilliantly when he’s come on the last few games, and has look very composed”.

Attention now turns to Monday night when Town travel to Glanford Park to face table toppers Scunthorpe United in front of the live TV cameras: “We’re going to recover properly and do everything right for that game, and I know the lads are looking forward to playing live on Sky”.

Back the defender to score again on Monday night and get his 51st goal for the club.