Fleetwood new boy Madden eyes play-off prize

Saturday’s opposition Blackburn Rovers may be one of the favourites for promotion but Paddy Madden sees no reason why Fleetwood Town cannot mount their own bid for Championship football.

It was a case of New Year, new start for Madden who left Scunthorpe for Town and made an impact on his debut at Southend United.

It could not have gone any better for the 27-year-old who came off the bench and put in a match-winning stint.

He set up fellow new boy Toumani Diagouraga for the first and netted the second in their 2-1 win at Roots Hall.

Madden and Diagouraga have been on the training pitch this week having been cup-tied for Town’s FA Cup clash at Premier League side Leicester City.

Madden and Diagouraga watched Uwe Rosler’s side lose 2-0 at the King Power Stadium but they are back and raring to go for tomorrow’s home clash with Rovers.

Rovers are third in the League One table while Town are 11th, seven points off sixth-placed Charlton Athletic.

But Madden, who was part of the Scunthorpe side that missed out in the play-offs last term, is hoping for another shot this year and believes Town are capable of reaching the play-offs.

He said: “I’m coming in just through the middle of the season to score as many goals as I can. As a team target I’m looking to hopefully get in the play-offs.”

Madden has play-off success on his CV, having fired Yeovil Town to victory at Wembley, beating a Brentford side managed by Rosler.

And now Madden is hoping to repay Rosler for giving him a chance at Town.

He said: “I had a good chat with the gaffer before signing; the way he described things, how he wanted to play – I jumped at the opportunity.

“Obviously the Yeovil play-off goal came up; he was saying to me that it cost him promotion so we were just having a little joke about it!

“Hopefully I can help the gaffer; I took one away from him with Yeovil, so hopefully I can help give him one.”