Manager's thoughts after draw at Bury
Manager Graham Alexander was glad to see Fleetwood Town rediscover their goal-scoring boots in the 2-2 draw at Bury on Tuesday night.
The Cod Army led twice in the League Two clash at The JD Stadium, with Antoni Sarcevic giving Town a first-half lead before Jamille Matt fired Fleetwood back in front after Daniel Nardiello had levelled.
David Flitcroft’s side equalised for a second time through a Nardiello penalty, and Alexander was disappointed with the two goals conceded despite improvements in attack.
“We seem to have found our goalscoring boots again which is good, but we needed to do better with both of Bury’s goals,” said Alexander.
“It’s a point that we’ve got on board but we could have been in the lead by more than one at half-time.
“Conceding the equaliser straight after half-time punctured all the good feeling we had during the break.
“We responded well, scored another good goal and we should see it out, but we conceded a penalty and they’ve got back into it.
“The players have really took on board what we’ve been working hard on over the last few weeks, which is to make us hard to beat.
“Unfortunately, we’ve conceded, but we had to defend a lot of set pieces like we did at Torquay.
“Are we happy to be fifth? No. We want to be in that top three so we have to make sure we get the wins on board.”
The Town boss pointed to Bury’s impressive home record, which has seen them lose just three times at The JD Stadium this season, as an area for concern with the game tied late on.
“At 2-2, we wanted to go and try to win the game, although we didn’t want to make ourselves too open because Bury are dangerous opponents,” said Alexander.
“They’ve got a good record at home having lost only three games.”
And Alexander praised midfielder Sarcevic for returning to the scoresheet, a day before his birthday, after a frustrating period in front of goal for the now 22-year-old.
“Sarcevic has been getting in great positions and he has never hidden from the fact that he had not scored in however many games,” said Alexander.
“He keeps getting in there, he keeps taking shots and we encourage him to do it because we knew it was only a matter of time before he got on the scoresheet.
“It was a great ball from Josh (Morris) after a good run and it was expertly finished by Sarcevic. Hopefully, that will be the start of many more.”