Fleetwood Town's record breaker earns praise from a former colleague

Evans, who initially joined Preston North End on loan last month before making the move permanent last week, spent two-and-a-half seasons at Highbury.

He still looks out for the club’s results and paid tribute to Madden after Tuesday’s record-setting strike against Doncaster Rovers.

“It’s really nice to see,” said Evans. “Paddy works really hard, every single game.

“He scores goals. He’s a threat against any team and he’s always capable of scoring from anywhere.

“When I saw that he’d got the goal and they’d got the win, I was pleased for him and Fleetwood.

“If you look at the stats me and Paddy created when we played together, we were pretty impressive in relation to goals and assists and things like that.

“The way we were playing at the time, as a lone nine, it was tough to get us both on the pitch at the same time but if you got me and Paddy Madden on the pitch at the same time, there was always a chance we were going to score a goal.”

Madden has also worn the armband, both under interim boss Simon Wiles and new head coach Simon Grayson.

Evans said: “It suits him, he’s a definite leader. He’s vocal on the pitch, he’s vocal off the pitch.

“I really enjoyed my time at Fleetwood, I enjoyed my whole time I was there and the fans were great, the training, the facilities, the chairman, everyone there really.

“I just wish them all the best for the future.”

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