Nadesan, Charles, Grant and Osbourne on target at Poolfoot Farm
Fleetwood Town’s development squad recorded a comfortable 6-1 victory over Scottish side Queen of the South on Monday afternoon.Dean Brotherston opened the scoring for the visitors at Poolfoot Farm after ten minutes played, but Fleetwood roared back through strikes from Ashley Nadesan (2) Dion Charles, Thomas Grant, and Elliot Osbourne (2).
The Cod Army, who were managed by Nathan Rooney, fielded a strong line-up for the fixture, in what was the development squad’s final pre-season outing.
After a tight start to proceedings, the Scottish Championship side took the lead on the Fylde Coast after ten minutes when Brotherston looped the ball over goalkeeper Matty Urwin and the by-standing defenders after he had initially smothered a shot into the direction of the striker.
However, less than a minute later, Rooney’s side were back level as Nadesan twisted and turned from a cross from the right, to guide his shot beyond the dive of the goalkeeper.
Nadesan nearly doubled his goal tally shortly after, however, having escaping his marker, the young forward couldn’t find the net with his close-range effort.
Later in the half, Kieran Dunbar and Nadesan both had shots saved, as Town looked to turn the screw.
Fleetwood netted their second of the afternoon after 37 minutes played, when Charles profited from some neat build-up passing play from his team-mates to manoeuvre space inside the area after a surging run, before lashing the ball into the net.
Nadesan turned provider seven minutes after the interval when he latched onto a lofted ball, prior to cutting the ball back to the on-rushing Grant, who curled the ball first time into the right-hand corner.
The former Horley Town youngster netted his brace just after the hour to make it four, when he drove the ball low under the grasp of the goalkeeper from just outside the penalty area.
Osbourne completed the rout for Fleetwood’s sumptuous display at the Cod Army’s Thornton-based training ground, with two exquisitely-timed volleys in the closing 15 minutes of the game.