Fleetwood boss hints at first league start for defender

Bolger signed from Southend in the summer but his only League One action this season has been off the bench as a makeshift striker in the 2-1 defeats at Bradford and Millwall.

Central defenders Ashley Eastham and Nathan Pond both conceded penalties which Lee Gregory converted to win last Saturday’s game for the Lions, and Rosler hinted at changes at the back for the Gills’ visit tomorrow.

The Town boss said he is still to finalise his personnel for the Highbury clash but vowed Bolger will get his chance sooner or later.

He said of the 24-year-old: “I think Cian is pushing. I have not made up my mind about the team in general and there are one or two positions I will probably think about until Saturday morning.

“Cian came here to play. He was signed before I came and he has conducted himself extremely well, truly professionally, and he is also a person who encourages his team-mates.

“He was not afraid to play a different position and I thought he did quite well both times I put him on as a centre forward.

“He will get his chance. There is no question about it.

“Sometimes as a coach you want to show the players you decided would start the season that they can make a mistake and not lose their place immediately. You also have to be fair and encourage competition. I will always be a coach who embraces competition for places, so everybody should be on their toes.

“Everybody can make mistakes but in the end overall performance will decide who I pick – what I see in training and in games. Hopefully I make my decision to the benefit of the team.”

Rosler said full-back Michael Duckworth is the only player unavailable this weekend and hinted he may revert to his favoured 4-3-3 formation, having switched to 4-4-2 in recent games.

He said: “When I came here, I saw what we had available up front and I planned to play three strikers because I saw that could give us a real threat.

“Unfortunately, we could not maintain the level of running, fighting, pressing with the three up front and that is why we went to the two.

“I think three strikers with different qualities are very difficult for the opposition to handle. But we were conceding too many goals, so we decided to go to a formation which makes us more compact. Ideally I would like to go back to three.”