Fleetwood Town boss expects stern Oxford United opposition

Both teams lost on the opening day, Town 1-0 against AFC Wimbledon while Karl Robinson’s Oxford players were beaten 4-0 at Barnsley.

Barton, who revealed that Oxford pipped Town to an unnamed signing this summer, is looking for his players to bounce back but acknowledged how competitive a division League One is.

He said: “They (Oxford) have good players, Jamie Mackie who we played with (at QPR) is a really talented lad.

“They have managed to recruit someone we were looking at ourselves.

“They have some good players in there, this league is much of a muchness.

“There is a competitive element to this league which probably makes it so exciting.

“We have got to get ourselves into battle, be really aggressive; we were not aggressive enough on Saturday.

“I’m not saying we want that to spill over into nastiness but we need to play with real heart and a competitive edge.

“I just think that Wimbledon wanted it more than us in certain regards.

“You just felt whoever scored the first goal was going to win the game.

“There will probably be 25 of those this year and it is such a competitive league.

“When you have been beaten 4-0 on the opening fixture usually there is only one way to respond to that.

“On the flipside, we are expecting our boys to respond to losing at home on the first day.

“We will not be judged on one result, it is a long hard season in League One.

“When you have a setback it is how you overcome that adversity; that is the testament to the group.”