Chance of a lifetime for Rosler's Fleetwood

Town are third in League One, two points behind Bolton with games against relegation-battling Gillingham and Port Vale to go.

And after Monday’s win over Millwall secured a top-five finish and a play-off spot, Rosler says his players have nothing to lose.

The German, who guided Brentford and Wigan into the play-offs, took the Town reins from Steven Pressley just days before the season.

He said: “Nobody could even dream about this. It was unimaginable but we are there and we are enjoying it.

“A few players (here) went into the play-offs in League Two and won promotion. Now we are in that situation on another level. No-one expected that or prepared us for that. The whole club accelerated at a tempo no-one could predict.

“I felt we played a little bit nervously (against Millwall) and approached the game as if we had something to lose. But I’m sure the players have that belief now, that confidence. They have nothing more to lose and everything to win.

“Nobody expected us to be here. It is a chance of a lifetime and you never know when it will come around again.

“We will try to make the most of it. The pressure has been on our competitors more than on us, so we need to relish that underdog scenario, which I think is very useful for our players.

“I’m enjoying it. I’ve been there with other clubs and to achieve that with Fleetwood, considering where we started and our budget, is something special but I think we are not where we want to be. I think we want to take the next step.

“We have to plan the right way and hopefully we can hit peak form in the next two games.”

Fleetwood climbed back into the top six with a win at Shrewsbury on January 2 and have been there ever since, winning six of their last 11 games despite injuries and mixed form.

Rosler added: “When you have been in the top six for four months, you don’t want to drop out in the last minute.

“We had tough games and we probably had a period when people felt they were not at their best, but even then we won six games out of 11 and lost only three.

“To win over 50 per cent of our games in a period when maybe everything did not go to plan is quite impressive.”