Joey Barton praised his side after a professional performance saw Fleetwood Town into the Second Round of the Emirates FA Cup.
The Cod Army beat National League North side Alfreton Town 4-1 on Sunday, thanks to goals from Paddy Madden (2), Ash Hunter and Ged Garner.
See below Joey’s key quotes from his post-match press conference.
On being ruthless and winning the game…
“The key for us was to respect the opponent – the lads had it in their minds to be ruthless and get into the second round of the cup.
“We had a weird spell where I think we got a little complacent, but on the whole we were good value for a very comfortable victory.”
On a professional performance from his players…
“We knew coming here that we would have to be severely under par and they would have to be severely over par to cause an upset.
“Our focus in the week was about how we were going to approach the game – we wanted to be professional and clinical. A lot of credit goes to the lads, and we got our reward because it was comfortable in the end for us.”
On academy graduate Ged Garner getting his first goal for the club…
“Ged was very impressive in a Central League Cup game at Huddersfield the other day, and we were tempted to start him this afternoon.
“However, due to the nature of the competition, we didn’t want to pit a young lad into this competition from the start because we know what can happen in the FA Cup. We had a plan to get him on the pitch today, and I thought he was excellent when he came on.”
On the second round draw on Monday night…
“You play who you play. I don’t care who we play – we’ll play anyone anywhere!”