Fleetwood boss wants Cod Army on parade in record numbers

Town have sold out four coaches for Gigg Lane and Rosler issued a rallying cry in a bid to build on this month’s highest-ever away following, when over 500 attended the 2-0 win at Scunthorpe.

Ahead of the trip to 17th-placed Bury, the head coach said: “I hope we can smash the record from Scunthorpe. If we can have similar numbers – maybe more – that will give inspiration to our players.”

Five of Town’s remaining eight League One games are away and with Town yet to be beaten on the road in 2017 Rosler says that could suit them in view of their striker shortage.

With Devante Cole (groin) and Wes Burns (ankle ligaments) injured, Ash Hunter and David Ball were Town’s only recognised first-team strikers for last weekend’s goalless home draw with Wimbledon.

Rosler admitted: “Given the fact we are not having the firepower we would wish at the moment, it probably is a little bit easier for us to play away from home because you normally do not have to have the initiative.

“I would like to rotate things to keep people fresh. When you are playing at the top end of the pitch, I think you need to be fresh in your legs and also in your mind to get that little advantage or inspiration that is needed to make the difference.

“At the moment we do not have that luxury. I’m confident we will get that in April but at the moment away games suit us.”

In January, Rosler said he was happy to go from six strikers to four, signing Wes Burns while losing Aaron Amadi-Holloway, Alex Jakubiak and Chris Long.

Asked if he wished he had recruited more, Rosler said he could not have foreseen the injuries to Burns and Cole.

“Considering our budget and our investment in Wes Burns, I gave the green light to have four players for two positions,” Rosler said. “We could not afford another striker on the books because of the investment in Wes.”

Nathan Pond, Jimmy Ryan, Martyn Woodford and keeper Alex Neil are also injured but Rosler revealed that centre-half Cian Bolger has recovered from a chest infection and Ball is over the illness that hindered him against Wimbledon. Conor McLaughlin is away on international duty with Northern Ireland this weekend.

The head coach said: “We need to get players back from the injury table. Then we will cope with seven games in April no problem. Then we can hopefully rotate. I am optimistic.”

Bury’s former Blackpool boss Lee Clark has dubbed Rosler’s Fleetwood revolution the story of the season but Rosler says the story is not yet finished.

He said: “It is not complete the way I would like it to be but it is very nice of him to say things like that.”

Bury have lost only one of their seven games under Clark, while Rosler’s men have been beaten only once in 21 league games, keeping clean sheets in 12 of them.

The teams played out a goalless draw at Highbury on Boxing Day and Rosler said: “Defensively they are as good as we are. There will not be many goals between the two teams.

“We need to aim to get a clean sheet, which gives us a chance to win the game. We need to be very difficult to beat, like we have been for many games.

“Bury have good momentum now with the new manager and we still have good momentum.

“Everyone knows what is at stake. Everyone who is available is ready to go, and everyone who is not available is pushing themselves to the limit to be available, so I had a good week.”