Bell bids to chime in with more Fleetwood goals

Bell rifled home Town’s final goal in their 4-1 extra-time win over Southport in Tuesday’s FA Cup replay.

It was a long time coming – that was the 22-year-old left-back’s 71st competitive game for Town since joining the club from Birmingham in summer 2015. And Bell is now eager to add more goals to his game.

He said: “It is always nice to get your first goal for the club. I’m over the moon, and hopefully I can continue to prove I am a threat and can score more goals.

“I like to run at players and get crosses in. I’m trying to add goals to my game hopefully I’ll get a few more.”

After Aaron Amadi-Holloway’s first-half opener Town were rocked by a last-gasp Southport equaliser from substitute Ashley Grimes which forced the first-round rematch into an extra half-hour.

But goals Cian Bolger (also his first for the club), Ash Hunter and Bell put the game to bed in the first half of extra- time to seal a second-round visit to League One rivals Shrewsbury on December 3.

Bell believes the result shows Town’s mental strength.

He added: “I thought we played well. We should have eliminated their goal, I think. We kind of sat back when we should have carried on playing the way we were, but it is nice to go through.

“We showed that we can stay mentally strong, can keep going and can score goals.

“I think we could have scored a few more, which I guess would have gone in on another day.

Town bounced back from Saturday’s 2-1 League defeat at Port Vale to beat non-league Southport at the second attempt.

And Bell says they are aiming to build on the cup win in their home double-header against Chesterfield (Saturday) and cup opponents Shrewsbury (Tuesday).

He said: “After Saturday’s game I don’t think we felt too bad. I mean, we know that we did some good things and we will continue that into the other games.

“We got the win on Tuesday and hopefully we can build on that on Saturday.”