Fleetwood Town boss praises midfield goalscorer

The 24-year-old followed up his effort at Port Vale on the opening day with Town’s first goal at Highbury, cancelling out Ryan Hardie’s opener for the visitors.

Town substitute Joe Garner netted a late winner but it was Batty who took the limelight with his goal making it five in three weeks following on from pre-season strikes against Barrow AFC, Stoke City and Dundee United.

Not only was the win Brown’s first in competitive football since the former Celtic and Scotland captain took charge but it also ended a barren run on home soil.

Victory was a first in 11 matches at Highbury, a run stretching back to their win against Rotherham United in mid-January.

“Dan’s fantastic and I’m delighted he scored again,” said Brown.

“He always wants the ball and he’s got that brilliant willingness to run in behind defences.

“He understands that number 10 role and that number eight role really well, and he can sit too.

“For me, I think we need to use his energy though. That energy and spark can get lost if we allow him to sit deep.

“It’s about mentality for all these lads now. We need to make this a difficult place for other teams to come to.

“We’ve made a good step, but we know there’s so much more to come from Dan and the rest of the team.”