Fleetwood Town Head Coach Joey Barton spoke to the press after his side beat Gillingham 2-0 away from home at the Priestfield Stadium in the Sky Bet League One fixture.
Barton stood on the sidelines as he watched his side battle throughout their win over Steve Evans’ side in Kent, as goals from Paddy Madden and Ched Evans secured the points on the day.
Joey spoke after the game and here is what he had to say:
On the result…
“I’m really pleased with the lads. In the end, we were relatively comfortable, or as comfortable as you can be here when you play against a professional outfit that plays for set plays and direct balls.
“Gillingham were tough to play against but thankfully the lads battled on and get the clean sheet wherein the end we were the ones who came away with maximum points.
“They’re a big, physical side and there’s no right or wrong way to play the game but at the end of the day it’s about getting results and our group stood up to the examination but that’s football.
“We’ve got to fulfill our fixtures, the last thing anybody wants is no football, we want to get fans back in stadiums and I think today would have been a great game where if this place was full it would have made it a more intimidating place to come.”
On individual performances…
“I was really impressed with Callum Connolly, he’s someone you would want in the trenches with you especially in places like this, I thought Tom Edwards making his debut for us was brilliant on the right-hand side, Jay Matete was absolutely superb.
“I could go through the whole side, I’m pleased to see Ched Evans and Paddy Madden back on the score sheet as they have been the major contributors for getting goals in my tenure here; Sam Finley making his debut hasn’t played since March and I thought he was outstanding.
“We’re really happy with three points so we can get a run together and move our way up the table, there are no easy games in this division, in my opinion, it’s the most competitive league out of all four divisions in England with all the sides very closely matched.”