Joey Barton has given his reaction after Fleetwood Town were knocked out of the Checkatrade Trophy on Tuesday night against Bury.
Goals from Dominic Telford, Chris Dagnall and Nicky Adams cancelled out Kyle Dempsey’s early strike, with the Cod Army now eliminated from the competition.
See below Joey’s key quotes from his post-match press conference.
“I thought [Kyle] Dempsey played well and I thought second-half Dean Marney did well when he came on. I thought young Gerard Garner did well and Conor McAleny looked bright and sharp. Young [Lewis] Baines getting a run out was good, too.”
On his priorities…
“We are a club in a little bit of a transition period. You get 46 league games, we wanted to prioritise and FA Cup run because we feel the revenue there would compensate maybe what you’d lose in this.
“We played Sunday, we’ve got 48 hours to this game or less. We could have move the game back 24 hours but we didn’t want to, we wanted to play it earlier so we could prepare properly for Walsall on Saturday.”
On Kyle Dempsey’s performance…
“Demps has shown he’s got a lot of fire – it hasn't been plain sailing for him. He hasn't been first choice having been a regular starter over the last couple of years for Fleetwood. But he’s shown he’s got a real desire to be a player.
“He’s still got lots of improvement don't get me wrong, but he wants to be a player - his conduct has been first class. It’s just a case of him getting an opportunity in the team and staying in.
“It’s difficult for the lads, when we make eight, nine changes, to go in and expect them to do well and all knit together. But in life sometimes you only get one opportunity and some of these lads are getting five, six and seven.
“For Demps he will get opportunities because he is a real fighter. He’s shown he’s got a real desire to be part of our team.”
On moving forward as a team…
“We’re off the back of two wins at home so it’ll be nice for us to put a run together. We got a nice draw in the FA Cup so there’s an opportunity for us to get a run going now.
“Now the Checkatrade Trophy is out the way, it’s welcome – I’m not being disrespectful, it’s just not something that I feel we need to have as a priority. Maybe that filters into the lads, maybe the fact we make so many changes does affect that.
“But at the end of the day every time you pull the jersey on you have an opportunity to show us why they should be in the team, and they just let it pass them by.
“I’m disappointed for them but we have to make decisions - unfortunately we have to prioritise and use the energy on people who do want to have a successful career at Fleetwood Town.”