Head Coach Joey Barton spoke to the press after Fleetwood Town’s 1-1 draw with Wigan Athletic on Saturday afternoon at Highbury Stadium.
Barton’s side took the lead just before the half-hour mark through a brilliant strike from range by Danny Andrew, but Fleetwood fell short just before the end as Oliver Crankshaw levelled up the game with seconds to go.
Here’s what the Gaffer had to say:
On the game…
“We’re disappointed to concede late. We were unlucky, the lads defended as well as they could, and sometimes you need a little bit of luck as it’s ricocheting around. Jayson [Leutwiler] makes a great save, it loops over Paddy [Madden]’s head and right to their lad waiting for it but credit to Wigan. I thought in the second half they pushed on and deserved the point.
“I don’t think we were good enough in the second half and if Paddy scored that goal on the break late on, we’d have snatched three points but not to be today. Off the back of a tough week, it would’ve been nice to have seven points, but we’ve managed to take five and get through unbeaten.
“It was a hell of a strike by Dan [Andrew]. The Fylde Coast wind was a contributing factor there. I think Paddy will get the assist, but I think Mother nature might want to put a claim to that. You know second half because of the conditions you’re going to be camped in and you’re going to have to do the basics superbly and for a large part of that we did.”
On the congested fixture schedule…
“A good week would have been a great week if we managed to see those two minutes out but in the context of the second half, I don’t think we can sit here and say we managed to beat Wigan.
“We’ve got a tough fixture at Crewe on boxing day and as I say, it’s not doom and gloom, we went to Portsmouth and put on a good show and obviously Swindon and won the game. It’s a fixture we don’t have to get on the coach and sit for six hours for like we did on Tuesday night and get home at four or five in the morning like some of the boys were. Swindon was a big haul as well.”
“It’s been a tough week and I’m really disappointed for the lads because with their effort and application it could’ve been a seven-point, three clean sheets on the spin week. As it is, it’s not a glossy as that, but five points, there’s some tough places we’ve visited is a testament to the group of lads we’ve got in there.”