Fleetwood Town midfielder could miss the rest of the season according to Joey Barton

Town’s midfielder has been out of the side since the 0-0 draw against Coventry City at the end of last month.

Dempsey has suffered a stress fracture in his back and any more appearances would be a ‘bonus.’

“He’s walking around with a massive scaffold construction on his back,” Barton explained.

“He has this weird contraption on where he’s not allowed to move his back.

“He’s got a stress fracture in his back and we just have to wait for the medical people to do their job and let us know when he’s going to be available.

“It’s one of those where you can’t rush it. It’ll be a case of ‘how’s that on the scan? How does that feel?’ and then progress it bit by bit.

“I think if Kyle plays for us between now and the end of the season it’ll be a bonus.”

Given the club’s size and relatively short history in comparison to clubs like Portsmouth, Sunderland or Coventry, Barton feels his side can be dark horses in the League One promotion race.

The Fleetwood boss often talks about the budgets of his side and Wycombe Wanderers as opposed to some of the division’s bigger hitters.

Nevertheless, Barton expects a good game against Peterborough United today despite both sides missing a key player apiece.

Town will be without Ched Evans while the visitors are missing 25-goal striker Ivan Toney.

“We can go under the radar,” said Barton.

“We play Peterborough on Saturday who have won seven of their last seven but again it’s somebody that we’ve already beaten this year.

“We beat them probably at their most confident point at the start of the season.

“They’re a good side, we’re six unbeaten, we’ve only lost one at home this season and we don’t intend to lose another one.

“They’ve got three games more than us; they’ve lost nine, we’ve lost seven.

“It’s two really good sides in the division in great veins of form.

“Both are missing their talisman in the number nine position, Toney misses two games with his 10th booking and Ched misses it with his sending off.

“It’s the best of both teams barring the number nine. Our top goalscorer (Paddy Madden) will be on the pitch on Saturday and unfortunately for them, theirs won’t.

“It’ll still make the contest as even as it would have been before, they look like they’ll have their full complement apart from the boy (Frankie) Kent at the back.

“We’re in good fettle and looking forward to getting back in front of our fans.

“We need to start hearing our fans turn up now and really getting behind this side because if they do, and they make it intimidating like they have done in the past, then the challenge for us is to be the best Fleetwood Town ever.”