Fleetwood Town boss expects Peterborough United to be fearsome opposition

Fleetwood Town head coach Joey Barton Picture: Stephen Buckley/PRiME Media Images Limited

Town travel to a Peterborough United team who finished outside the play-off places last season by way of the points-per-game method.

Town did the double over Darren Ferguson’s side last season but Barton has no doubts as to the quality they possess.

Barton said:“We know it’ll be tight, we know it’ll be a tough fixture, but we go into it like we do with most games, we expect to beat everyone we play against.

“We know what a good side Darren’s got and the players they’ve got.

“Even though they lost arguably the best striker in the division last season, for me, in Ivan Toney, they’ll still have a lot of quality with bringing Jonson Clarke-Harris in from Bristol Rovers. In League One, Jonson’s a handful and we’ll have to take great care of him.

“They’re a very, very good side. They were unlucky last year not to make the play-offs.

“I know we were one of few sides that beat them when they were in good form.

“Luckily we beat them home and away last season. I think if you beat Peterborough home and away and take six points off them, you consider yourself a good side that wants to be in the upper echelons of League One.”

Barton is expecting a different kind of game to the two that were played out in 2019/20, when Town won 3-1 at Peterborough on the opening day before winning the return game at Highbury 2-1 in mid-February.

“Peterborough are a good side and have been consistently, and we know we have to be as good as we can be on Saturday to take the three points,” he said.

“Tactically we had a different plan for them last year. The front three on that occasion I think was Conor McAleny, Wes Burns and Josh Morris. Paddy (Madden) and Ched (Evans) didn’t play.

“When we came to the reverse fixture, we were trying to build some momentum and we were going well but Peterbrough were probably the other form side in the division at the time.

“Again, it was a different kind of battle and it was a very close encounter.

“Callum Connolly scored a great goal and got us maximum points that day after Mo Eisa had missed a penalty.”