Fleetwood's new star striker Madden 'disappointed' to miss tonight's FA Cup clash at Leicester City

He made a debut to remember at Southend but Fleetwood's super-sub Paddy Madden will have to watch on when Town take on Premier League Leicester at the King Power in tonight's FA Cup third round replay.
Paddy Madden will be training this weekPaddy Madden will be training this week
Paddy Madden will be training this week

Madden joined Town from Scunthorpe this month for an undisclosed six-figure sum.

But the 27-year-old striker had to bide his time before making his Town bow in the 2-1 win at Southend.

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It was an electric start as he teed-up fellow debutant Toumani Diagouraga and then netted himself to fire Town to three points and up to 11th in League One.

But now the Irishman and Diagouraga will have to watch Uwe Rosler's men in their bid to stage a giantkilling as both are cup-tied.

Madden admitted his disappointment at not being able to play but he was overjoyed to scored for the the first time since August and help the team.

He said: "Obviously it is disappointing to be cup-tied for a big game against Leicester but that is football.

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"I will just have to wait until next year to play in the FA Cup again but I'm just happy to help the lads out on Saturday.

"It was nice to get an assist and a goal on my debut and to help the lads to a vital three points."

Madden has backed his team-mates to make life difficult for Leicester, just like they did in the 0-0 draw at Highbury 10 days ago.

He says Rosler's pressing play is a test for any team and he says that style will help them climb the table as he aims to be back in contention for Saturday's home clash with promotion- chasing Blackburn Rovers.

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Madden said: "The way the gaffer plays here, he just has teams pressing all the time and no player likes to be pressed like that, no matter what league you are in.

"The more you press teams, the more it is going to be difficult for them and I think playing like that will see us going up the table."

Now the Irishman is hoping to make his home debut and says that having to wait for his first Town game at Roots Hall - he was cup-tied for last week's Checkatrade Trophy clash at Bury as well as the Leicester tie - was beneficial in getting him up to match fitness after a period outin the cold under Scunthorpe boss Graham Alexander.

He said: "It has been hard to wait. There have been two cup games but in the last three or four games prior I was an unused substitute for Scunthorpe, so it was important that I got my fitness back up.

"The gaffer and the fitness coaches have been working hard with me just to do some extra running and in a way I'm happy Ihad a week to 10 days to get myself back to full fitness."