Fleetwood boss Simon Grayson anxious to find winning 'margins'

The Cod Army slipped into the bottom four following a 2-1 defeat on Saturday at Ipswich Town, whose winner came in the third minute of stoppage time.

It was Town’s sixth defeat in their 13 league games, though all of those losses have been by a one-goal margin.

Small errors are costing the Highbury side dearly and head coach Grayson is keen to see the back of that problem.

He wants to see his side perform for the full 90 minutes and not allow their opponents a chance to snatch the game from them.

Grayson said: “It keeps coming back to what I was saying about those two words – ‘fine margins’ – costing us points to really get us up the division.

“If we do that, then we’re certainly going to be moving in the right direction.

“We’ve talked a lot about fine margins already this season. We’ve just said again, fine margins have cost us points.

“It’s something we’ve got to eradicate, because if you’re on the wrong side of fine margins, you’re going to drop points.

“We have been on the wrong side a lot this season – somebody not busting a gut to be with a runner or being alert to the second ball, especially so late in the game.

“You’ve got to make sure you can manage the game better and see things out.

“I think a draw was exactly what we deserved but we probably didn’t stay with the full-back in the first place (for the winning goal).

“Then one of our midfield players is close enough to the lad who scores, but then doesn’t bust a gut to get five yards inside him, where the danger was. Those are the fine margins that we’re talking about.”

Grayson is not looking for excuses and is determined to get Fleetwood back to winning ways, though it gets no easier on Saturday when second-placed Wycombe Wanderers visit the Fylde coast.

“We’ve got to eradicate the fine margins because we’re a good team and we’ve got some good players,” he added.

“We’ve played some really good football again, like we do a lot, and we’re just not getting what we deserve at times.

“Against Crewe, we didn’t give the opposition any fine margins in their favour and we won 3-0.

“On Saturday, we gave the opposition an opportunity and it’s cost us points again.”

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