Fleetwood Town's players will fight for the right to stay up
McAleny arrived from Everton on a free transfer in the summer at a side that had just finished fourth in League One.
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Hide AdHaving lost out to Bradford City in the play-offs thoughts of a bottom half battle were far from anyone’s minds at Town in June.
But now, with 12 games to go, Fleetwood are in the bottom four and fighting for survival as they prepare to play a Plymouth Argyle side featuring Antoni Sarcevic, whose goal steered them into the third tier.
McAleny, who finally put his injury woes to bed with a full 90 minutes in John Sheridan’s first game in charge, the 1-1 draw with Milton Keynes Dons, says all at Town are up for the scrap.
He said: “One hundred per cent; nobody wants to be going down.
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Hide Ad“Everyone is determined to do what they need to do; give it 110 per cent every single game and make sure we are not down there come May.
“Everyone has bought into that.”
That draw with the Dons ended an eight-match losing spree.
It was Sheridan’s first game in charge since taking over from Uwe Rosler and, when asked what he thought had gone wrong this season, McAleny admitted there had been a combination of factors.
But now he says there has been a positive reaction to their new manager as they bid to end a dismal home run that saw them win their last game in the league in October.
McAleny said: “We just could not get out of the rut.
“We were trying all different things to get a win and it was just backfiring, when you are down there you are not really getting the rub of the green.
“It is just one thing after another.
“It was just taking it out of the lads a little bit.
“But we have got a new face now, it was a positive reaction.”