Assistant Head Coach David Dunn spoke to the local press ahead of Fleetwood Town’s Papa John’s Trophy clash against Barrow at Holker Street this Tuesday.
Town are looking to make it two from two in the cup next time out, building on their 4-1 win over Leicester City back in August where Callum Morton grabbed his first hat-trick for the club at Highbury Stadium.
Here’s what he had to say ahead of the game:
On Tuesday’s opposition…
“I have fond memories of the club, I’ve got a lot of time for the people who run the club and as anyone would be, I was disappointed when I lost my job. I look back at my time there and I feel like we weren’t far off, we played 22 and drew nine, with all of those being winnable – I understand that you have to win games as a manager, and I, unfortunately, didn’t there.
“I’ve made some good friends up there that I’m sure I will be in contact with over the coming days, but it was a good and strange time for me at the club, as it was during the pandemic, the fans weren’t there to be involved, and I feel it was a difficult time for not just them but all clubs. If the fans were there during those times, maybe it would have been different.
On the younger players…
“There are some really exciting younger players, I think the group as a whole is relatively young so we’ve got to accept that they will make mistakes and we’ve got to make sure that when they do make those mistakes, we tell them, so they don’t keep making them and show that you are caring. We are here to make them better footballers.
“He [Paddy Lane] is a terrific young lad, he came in and looks like he’s going to be a good footballer at the club. As he has come out of non-league, he’s got a real desire and I don’t want to build him up too much as you have to hold them back at times, but what I’ve seen since he’s come in on trial, we knew he was a good player.
“To make the impact the way he has done in terms of getting his goal and his assists as well, as a forward player, you are judged on those stats, and I think he’s been a really good player for us so far.”
On the league so far…
“We’ve been on a really good run of form, which unfortunately ended on Saturday. We’ve not picked up as many wins as we would have liked but have been on a seven-game unbeaten run and we are pleased with how things have been overall.
“Looking at the league table on Saturday, we’ve got a game in hand, and with the four points I’ve mentioned, we would be much further up the table. I think we should be four points better off in my opinion, we should have beaten Portsmouth in the opening game of the season, and we deserved a point away at Lincoln City. That’s probably where we should be.
“We’ve got some injuries that we can get back into the side during the international break. When you’ve been beaten on a Saturday, you want that next game to come as soon as possible and put it to be but unfortunately, we don’t have a game for two weeks in the league so some of the lads can go out tomorrow night and put that right.”