Fleetwood defender Lewie Coyle says: Town will make most of preparation time to achieve promotion goal

Lewie Coyle says Fleetwood Town are in the League One play-offs on merit and will make the most of all the time they have to prepare for the massive matches against  Wycombe Wanderers in July.
Lewie Coyle has been a virtual ever-present for Fleetwood this seasonLewie Coyle has been a virtual ever-present for Fleetwood this season
Lewie Coyle has been a virtual ever-present for Fleetwood this season
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Souttar in a hurry to get back up to speed

After months of uncertainty, the defender is relieved that Town now know they will face the Chairboys in the semi-finals, with the first leg at Highbury on Friday, July 3.

And versatile defender Coyle, a virtual ever-present this season with 41 appearances in all competitions, has played his part in earning Town a crack at promotion to the Championship.

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The 24-year-old told BBC Radio Lancashire: “Until it was officially announced no-one had any real clarity moving forward. But to find out, set in stone, who we were going to be playing to hopefully reach the final at Wembley is great for the lads.

“We are delighted to be in the play-offs (after the final table was decided by points-per-game averages) but it’s a weird one because we were on such a great run, beaten just once in 17 and unbeaten in 12, so I just think we were itching to get the season under way again to push for one of those automatic spots. But in these unprecedented times the EFL and other governing bodies had to come together and made a decision.

“The unweighted points-per-game puts us in the play-offs and rightly so. Over the course of the season I think we fully deserve to be there and who knows what would have happened if those last nine games had been played?

“But we know what’s in front of us and are thoroughly looking forward to facing Wycombe.”

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Coyle, who has topped 100 League One appearances for the club, signed a permanent deal in January after two and a half seasons on loan from Leeds.

Town resumed training last week and are still more than a fortnight away from the first of those behind-closed-doors semi-finals.

Humbersider Coyle added: “It’s great to be back in after a lay-off that we’re not used to. Even in the summer we don’t have as long a break as we’ve just had, so while it was good to be back home with the family it’s nice to be back in among the lads and gearing up for the play-offs.

“It’s sometimes hard to gear up for games when they come so thick and fast. Sometimes you have only two or three days between games to prepare. Each game is different and the game-plan changes, so it’s nice to have that two weeks or so to prepare. We’ll do everything in our power to reach our goal of getting promoted.”