Fleetwood Town head coach Joey Barton spoke to the media following Fleetwood’s 2-1 victory over League Two side Crawley Town in the Second Round of the Emirates FA Cup on Sunday.
Barton saw his team go a goal ahead late in the first-half after Josh Morris calmly finished off a well worked move down the right wing, but it wasn’t all the visitors way as Ollie Palmer equalised just before the break.
The Cod Army responded well in the second period of the match, and got a deserved winner through substitute Paddy Madden – who grabbed his 15th goal of the campaign, and what an important finish it was for the Irishman.
Here are the best parts from Joey post-match interview:
On the game and the result…
“It was a typical cup tie really with two teams competing for a place in the Third Round of the FA Cup. We know how financially beneficial this will be the club being in the next round, especially with the big teams now in the fray.
“We have had two difficult ties to negotiate away from home with Barnet away from home and now Crawley in the second round, so next time we would love to play at home, on our pitch because they have a lot more quality in the pitch than what this one had on it today, but you have to play the conditions.
“We had to defend our box at times this afternoon and at times we were tested. We did the basics superbly on a tricky pitch, and I thought Ash Eastham made a hell of an interception in the game from a cross, and then Harry Souttar makes a great block late in the match. As well as scoring goals at the other end, it important your defenders protect your goal.
“Pitches can be a leveler at times, but I thought bar their ricochet for their goal, there was a lot of good play from ourselves and good front foot football to help us go and win the cup tie.”
On Josh Morris’ opener…
“It was a tremendous finish from Josh, as those types of finishes are not easy! In the build-up it isn’t the cleanest header from Ched [Evans] but Josh had that fantastic anticipation to score and that is why he brought him to the club.
“We know the goals he scores and the assists he gets as well as the contribution he brings to the team and he has been first class since joining us and with that first goal it was important to get it.
“This was a cup tie and we really wanted to get the second and the third one but credit to Crawley, they got their equaliser after a good finish from Ollie Palmer and after that it was important we responded.
On Paddy Madden’s goal…
“It’s definitely his goal despite what people say, and in the dressing room after the match he assured me that it was his goal!
“It was a tough decision pre-match to leave him out as we thought long and hard about whether to start him, however he and the rest of the lads understand that if we are going to be successful this season, it will be a whole squad effort. When you are on the bench, you will have to come on and produce the magic and that is what he did today.
“On the flip side, we have 16-17 players who are chomping at the bit to start matches for us and that was shown midweek away at Everton and that just shows that those players are ready when called upon.”