Fleetwood Town’s dominant second half display led to them beating Accrington Stanley 3-0 at Highbury on Saturday afternoon.
Carlos Mendes Gomes, Shaun Rooney, and Josh Earl all struck gold in the second half, as Town secured the win in the Lancashire derby against Accrington Stanley.
Just seconds in, Town went in search of the opener when Mendes Gomes looked to overhead kick the ball into Accrington’s danger area.
The Cods then thought they had a penalty just four minutes in when a ball put in the box by Rooney looked to have glanced the arm of an Accrington defender, but the referee awarded a corner instead.
After Accrington couldn’t find the target, Town broke forward in the shape of Rooney and Callum Morton, but the ball ended up at the feet of Mendes Gomes, whose shot was high off the target.
The Cods dominated the opening exchanges but couldn’t create anything of any real menace. Stanley’s first chance came when Tommy Leigh headed over from close range.
Despite a fast start to the game, the midway point of the first half didn’t deliver too many talking points. However, when Town looked to have got in their groove again, just after the half-hour mark, both Morton and Mendes Gomes drew fouls in deep in Accrington’s half of the pitch.
The visitors looked good on the ball, picking spots in the middle of the park but they struggled to create any openings.
A good chance came again for the Cods, this time a header by Brendan Wiredu which was narrowly wide from a corner. That was followed by a long-range effort from Morton, which tested Toby Savin in Accrington’s goal.
At forty minutes, there was a further chance for Town, as Mendes-Gomes played in substitute Dan Batty whose shot was drilled across the face of goal.
As the game reached the break, there was nothing to split the two sides, despite a few chances going the way of the Cods.
Town started the second half well, just like they did the first. Full of high tempo and Batty was influential in the creation of some early passages of play. He in fact was in the build-up to the game’s opener.
Mendes Gomes got into a good space and lashed the ball home just five minutes after the restart. Not too long after that, Town doubled their lead when goal scorer Mendes-Gomes found Rooney, who hit the ball home from close range.
The Cods were not done there, next up it was Earl’s turn to get in on the act. The defender headed across goal to put Town three to the good.
The game quietened down after Town’s flurry of goals but came back at Stanley just shy of the eighty-minute mark when a cross by Mendes-Gomes missed everybody and nearly ended up in the back of the net.
The visitors couldn’t produce anything to really trouble Jay Lynch and the Town defence in the second half and as the game wound down, the Cods looked to manage the game and the clock.
Paddy Lane and Lewis Warrington were then introduced to proceedings with the last ten left of the game.
Soon after, Town needed to be alert in defence as Leslie Adekoya broke loose and drew a terrific save from Lynch.
After a solid second-half performance from Town, that did it and Scott Brown’s side got their second, home league win of the season and claim some Lancashire bragging rights over Accrington.
Town XI: Lynch (GK), Andrew, Wiredu (Warrington 79’), Mendes-Gomes, Vela (C) (Lane 79’), Morton (Hayes 75’), Garner (Batty 30’), Holgate, Rooney, Earl, Baker.
Unused subs: Stolarczyk (GK), Johnston, McMillan.
Stanley XI: Savin (GK), Clark, Hamilton, Astley, Whalley (Adekoya 72’), Leigh, Pritchard, McConville, Rodgers, Conneely (C), Fernandes (Longelo 56’).
Unused subs: Jensen (GK), Nolan, Delfouneso, Martin, Procter.