Fleetwood Town head coach eyes reinforcements following AFC Wimbledon loss

Joey Barton remained upbeat about Fleetwood Town’s chances of success this season despite his frustration at Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to AFC Wimbledon.
Fleetwood Town boss Joey Barton    Picture: Stephen Buckley/PRiME Media ImagesFleetwood Town boss Joey Barton    Picture: Stephen Buckley/PRiME Media Images
Fleetwood Town boss Joey Barton Picture: Stephen Buckley/PRiME Media Images

The Cod Army boss saw his side fail to break down a resolute Dons team, who left Highbury with three points after Steve Seddon hit the game’s only goal shortly before half time.

Barton is confident chairman Andy Pilley will back him to bring in the bodies he feels will improve their chances immeasurably.

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“It’s frustrating because we haven’t replaced all of the quality that we’ve lost like Lewie Coyle, Harry Souttar and Lewis Gibson,” he said.

“We are in the marketplace and hopefully we can get reinforcements because if we don’t replace that level of defensive quality then it’s always going to be a tough ask, and at the moment, we haven’t kept a clean sheet.

“We are at the point where we need to start seeing some faces coming in because we’re drawing towards the transfer deadline.”

Fleetwood may have approached Saturday’s game with a style far easier on the eye than Wimbledon’s but it was the visitors who took the points.

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Danny Andrew hit the bar and Callum Camps was denied a fifth of the season as Glyn Hodges’ far more direct and robust side kept them out.

Barton (pictured) was left to rue a lack of cutting edge from his side who, he conceded, showed more style than substance.

“We’re frustrated that we couldn’t find that equaliser and maybe push on but I can’t fault the lads’ endeavour,” he added.

“We could quite easily have won the game against Peterborough and today they had one legitimate chance in the first half and managed to score it.

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“The runner came off the back of two senior players in the midfield and he shouldn’t have had the opportunity there, even though it was a good pass inside and a good finish.

“I thought we gave a good account of ourselves, we didn’t roll over and die, we didn’t feel sorry for ourselves, we kept knocking at the door so credit to Wimbledon, they defended their box and kept a clean sheet and they go away with three points.

“The lads have pitched in together, they were great and they’ll learn an enormous amount. That will benefit us in the coming months and coming seasons, for sure.

“Obviously today we’re going to be disappointed because you want to be sitting there with points on the board and us looking up the table.”