Goalkeeper Alex Cairns spoke to the press after making his 200th appearance for the club earlier on in the week and previewed this weekend’s clash against Cheltenham Town.
Cairns – who recently joined a select group of players who have made 200 appearances for the Cods – reminisces about his times at Fleetwood, whilst also looking ahead of the side’s next league clash against The Robins on Saturday.
Here’s what he said in his pre-match press conference:
On his recent milestone…
“I wasn’t sure it was my 200th game until someone messaged me and said it was. Then I was like ‘oh my god’ and started looking back and you realise that you’ve made loads of brilliant memories during your time at Fleetwood.
“There are a number of games that stand out for me, for example, my 100th game at Bradford [City] away, which I kept a clean sheet on. We also had Millwall at home in my first season here where I thought I did well, as well as the two play-off campaigns in contrasting years.
“For me, there were loads of learning opportunities in both of those seasons and, over the last 200 games, I feel that’s the best I have been as it has all added to my list of experiences. I want to get as many games as I can under my belt and to get to this milestone is an achievement for me and my family so I’m proud to get there – let’s hope for many more.”
On the group at Fleetwood…
“We’re three games in so I don’t think anyone can switch on the panic button. If you look at the game and the teams we have come across, all the teams we’ve come up against would say we deserved points from the games, whether it be a draw or a win.
“The process is clear, and I can say that I fully believe in this group of players, and they all believe in themselves, and we know that over the course of the season, we will pick up plenty of points and put good performances in for the fans and the Club as a whole.”
On the defensive performances do far…
“We are getting punished for little errors at the minute. Don’t get me wrong, I want to keep clean sheets as a goalkeeper as it’s something I pride myself on, I’m constantly talking to the team about what we could do to make things easier, but we all understand that these are little things we are getting punished for and the opposition teams that we’ve come across will punish them.
“I’ve watched the games back and some of the defensive work that goes on that people probably don’t see as it’s something that maybe only me and the defenders might look at, some of the work is brilliant. No one is after each other, we all know the process and we understand that we’ll get there.”