Fleetwood Town head coach Joey Barton has spoken following Monday night’s pre-season victory at Chorley.
Two goals from Ash Hunter saw Barton’s side end their pre-season campaign with seven straight victories, and here’s what he had to say after the match…
On the game…
“The main thing is that we saw the job through, despite there being periods in the game where we were slightly concerned. The lads were obviously mindful of picking up any injuries so close to Saturday’s game – but to be fair to Chorley, I thought they were excellent and gave our lads a test that we came for.
“We got through relatively ok, with Holty picking up a little roll to his ankle. He now move full steam ahead to Saturday’s opening game.”
On the poor start, but finishing the first half strongly…
“It was quite strange for me that Josh Wilson – my cousin – scored the goal and he’ll no doubt be reminding me of that all week!
“When we have the quality that we have up front, Ash Hunter scored two really good goals. He’s probably the only player tonight to enhance his chances for selection on Saturday. I said to the team that there was a couple of spots available for selection for Saturday after the Morecambe game, and for me it was surprising that when we introduced the academy players that they enhanced the performance.
“A lot of lads have got to go away and re-evaluate their application if they want to force themselves in the team. It wasn’t a great surface, but it was the same for both teams and the young kids enhanced their reputation for sure at the end.”
On new signing Dean Marney’s first game…
“Marns has trained with us this morning, and there’s not many opportunities to get 60 minutes into him, and that was always the plan tonight.
“He felt fine and wanted to play a bit longer, but with him there is a bigger picture in terms of getting the fitness into him. The other lads are probably two weeks ahead of him, and it’s great to see him on the grass in a Fleetwood shirt and no doubt the best is yet to come from him.”
On seven academy products finishing the game…
“They all did well. It’s a key thing for me and if the kids are good enough they’ll play – I don’t care how old they are.
“You’ve seen in pre-season, when we’ve been able to give them a chance in and around the first team, they’ve took it. It’s a great experience tonight for them to play against a team of men tonight here at Chorley.
“They all did really, really well – we’re Fleetwood Town and we want to show that there is a clear pathway for our young players.”