Fleetwood Town head coach Joey Barton spoke to the media after his sides goalless draw against Bristol Rovers.
Barton’s team dominated large spells of the game at The Memorial Stadium and could have been two or three goals up with the chances they created, but it will be a well deserved point with the hosts being award a penalty three minutes from time.
Alex Cairns was the hero after he saved Jonson Clarke-Harris’ penalty in the 87th minute. This meant Cairns has now kept 50th EFL clean sheet in Town colours.
Here are the best bits from Joey Barton’s post match interview:
On the result at Bristol…
“After a late penalty for Bristol and a great penalty save from our keeper [Alex Cairns], you have to be pleased with a point, however we aren’t pleased. We dominated large parts of the match and probably had the four best chances in the game which were from open play.
“I think we should have had one penalty ourselves, maybe two with one of our players having his shirt pulled back over his head and for me that is a penalty and I am not sure how that wasn’t seen. Bristol got a penalty which looked a really poor decision from where we were in the dugout and from there, our goalkeeper pulls off a really fantastic save to give us a point that we definitely deserved.
“Today, we just lacked that goal and that ball in the sometimes in the final third and overall it was a superb team performance and many pleasing factors for me as a coach. If we play like that on a regular basis, we will pick up points.”
On the chances up top…
“Strikers always go through these types of spells in a season and that is us at the moment. You’d like all to be firing on all cylinders, but we just need that bit of care and quality in those attacking areas at the moment.
“Sometimes you need your defenders to come up and get a goal and we went close when Callum Connolly’s header found Harry Souttar at the far post, but he didn’t hit the target. We had Lewie Coyle’s shot get saved onto the post and Danny Andrew rattle one over from close range so many chances for our lads.
“Ched is disappointed with his chance in the first half and we expect him to hit the target and work the keeper, but we get that and our challenge now is to keep the back door close. We defended superbly today and I thought Soutts and Connolly were outstanding and so were Danny and Lewie, and then Alex Cairns behind them.”
On Glenn Whelan’s first game for the club…
“We blooded in Glenn today and I thought he played well. He’s new to the group and the system we play and having only been in and around since Tuesday, he showed us why we have brought him into the group and for a debut for a new team and to come to a place like this, he showed that Premier League and International class.
“He added a calmness to our team and he was always at the hub of our play this afternoon. His composure helps the likes of Jack Sowerby and Kyle Dempsey, and with Glenn we have added some really quality into the side.
“We still have some work to do in this transfer window, but it is about getting quality in and not just quantity.”