Joey Barton's Fleetwood Town came away with all three points on Saturday afternoon after an impressive 2-0 victory over Derek Adams’ Plymouth Argyle.
Conditions on the Fylde Coast were awful with plenty of rain and wind raced across Highbury Stadium, but it was second half goals from Jason Holt – who opened his Town account in the league – and Ashley Hunter that made sure the points went to Barton’s side.
With the three points, that pushes the Cod Army back into the play-off race with five points separating them from 6th position.
Here is what Joey Barton had to say after the win.
On the game and the performance…
“It was a strange game in terms of the conditions and it was touch and go if it was going to be on, and then the game does take place with the wind to contempt with.
“We managed to deal with that first half and get in at half-time at nil nil with the wind not at our advantage anymore, but we go out in the second-half and the wind has switched around, so we had to play two halves with the wind.
“I thought second-half we were really good, and probably should have won by a bigger margin with the chances that we had in the first period, and then obviously in the second. Wes Burns and Nadders [Ashley Nadesan] both had a good chance, and probably should score them.
“However, I am really pleased with the boys and on the other side of that, the defense have gone and kept a clean sheet."
On the two goals that won Fleetwood the game…
“We have spoken about sharing the goals throughout the team and Ash [Hunter] suffers by being on the bench, and trying to get him to understand that sometimes the game will open up for him, and you can go and make an impact, and I thought he did that superbly today.
“Jason [Holt] does absolutely everything in every single game, and he is a real pleasure to have at the club. He doesn’t leave anything out there and as a member of a squad, that’s the highest compliment you can get.
“Everybody respects him and they know when he takes to the pitch, he will give his absolute all.”
On Ryan Rydel’s first league start for the club…
“We have really high hopes for Ryan, and we knew it would be difficult to pit him in as a left back in a back four because of the nature of this league.
“He was brilliant for an 18-year-old, for just an 18-year-old to go and perform at that level amongst the men of League One is a real credit to him and I thought he grew and grew into the game.
“As I have said, he is someone we have high hopes for. He has a fantastic mindset and he is someone who believes that he can be a player, and takes everything in his stride. He looked a little bit tired at the end, but the pitch is soft and for us to have James Husband as an understudy is great.”