Defender Brad Halliday spoke to the club as Fleetwood narrowly lost out to Portsmouth 1-0 at Highbury Stadium on Saturday afternoon in Sky Bet League One.
Halliday – who joined the club in the summer transfer window, is having to adapt to a new role in a new system under Head Coach Simon Grayson as he is being utilised as a wing-back instead of a right-back as he played the full 90 minutes on his debut for the Cod Army.
Here’s what he had to say:
On his first outing for the club…
“It’s good to get out there, pre-season was quite difficult for myself, that was the first 90 I have got where I spent a few days away from the training ground so to get a full game it feels good.
“It’s also great to have the fans back, I think everyone up and down the country is excited to have the fans back because they’re going to make this season and definitely have a big part of it, I fancy us against the very best and today we were the better team and were unlucky to come away with no points.”
On the narrow loss…
“I think if we did take our chances in the first half and we had a couple in the second then it’s a different game, but that’s football and we have to dust ourselves off because we have had a good pre-season which has allowed us to get to know one and another and we all know each other’s best attributes.
“It’s a massive confidence boost to stay in the game, we’re going to come up against bigger clubs than Portsmouth this season and to play against them on the first game of the season it’s always an exciting one, one that we did actually play well in so long may that continue because today we deserved a point at least.”
On his new responsibilities…
“I’m traditionally a right-back, but the gaffer has asked me to play wing-back so I can get forward where I can feel I can score goals and create assists so hopefully I can do what I say and show the fans what I can do this season.
“I can’t remember them having that many opportunities, their goal was a bit lucky where it’s gone under me and past Alex Cairns with pace, but as I say we had a few of our chances the game would have been completely different.”