Sheridan hails whole team for first clean sheet at Fleetwood

A clean slate was what Fleetwood were hoping for when John Sheridan arrived and now he has his first clean sheet after a third straight draw as Town boss.
John SheridanJohn Sheridan
John Sheridan

The goalless draw at Charlton Athletic was Town's first clean sheet in League One since they beat Bury 2-0 in December and shot-stopper Alex Cairns' first league clean sheet since the 0-0 draw with Blackpool back in November.Sheridan heaped praise on his whole team, not just the keeper and back four, for the shutout.With 10 games to go Town have sneaked out of the bottom four and Sheridan says that if they draw all their games they should be okay.However, he is targeting wins and and hopes to achieve that elusive first one as Town boss this week, with games against fellow strugglers Rochdale and Northampton . Sheridan said: "The clean sheet is a big boost for the defenders because we have been letting a lot of goals in, but it was a team performance from Paddy (Madden) up front to the keeper."There were some great blocks in and around the penalty area and we defended really well, so it is a massive boost when you are keeping clean sheets."The keeper and the defence usually get the plaudits when we keep a clean sheet but I like to praise the team. They all worked their socks off."Since I've come in (we've had) three draws from three solid performances. We need to be picking up things from each game and I'm sure if we draw every game until the end of the season we will be all right. It was a workmanlike performance." Sheridan says the negative was that his men did not believe in themselves enough at times.He added: "I'd have liked us to believe a bit more that we could have passed it and played."I don't think we did it as well as we should have but we have got to keep chipping away."We have got two big games: Rochdale and Northampton. We have got to be looking to get something from whoever we are playing."Sheridan made three changes , with centre-half Cian Bolger recovering from a groin injury to replace Nathan Pond, while striker Wes Burns and midfielder Toumani Diagouraga were preferred to Conor McAleny and George Glendon as Town deployed a 4-3-3 that often became 4-5-1 when they were defending. Sheridan said: "We were playing a team I thought has pace outside and they are a threat, so Ithought (I'd go with) Wes' honesty and Ashley playing more wide."I left out probably one of my best players since I've been here, Macca, and also young Glendon. I'm not frightened to change my team and if it gets us a result"The team, the formation on Tuesday (at Rochdale) will probably be different again."Harrison Biggins is fresh from celebrating his 22nd birthday and signing a new deal keeping him at the club until 2012, though there was no place for him in the matchday squad.Fellow midfielder Markus Schwabl was also left out, though both were still involved in the pre-match warm-up.Sheridan said: "I don't like leaving players out. They can train all week, work hard and you can't even put them on the bench because we have so many players."I like to try to look after them the best way I can, so I never say anyone is dropped because I'm going to need them all."Young Harrison has got a big future in the game and Markus is a good pro, so I want to keep them all on my side because I will throw people in as you've seen."