Fleetwood midfielder Dylan Boyle hails boss Stephen Crainey after big breakthrough

Six of Town's starting 11 who impressed in Tuesday's 1-0 Papa John's Trophy defeat at Bolton Wanderers were players brought through the club's academy by Crainey in his previous role as Under-23s chief.

And teenager Boyle was one of three, alongside Sam Bird and Ciaran Hayes, who made their full debut at the University of Bolton Stadium.

The 19-year-old Northern Irishman said: “To my first start, I'm really proud and hopefully there are many more to come.

“I've worked really hard with Stephen Crainey for the last couple of years and he has got a lot of lads ready to make the step forward.

“We work with him to make sure that when the chance to step up does come we are ready to take it.

“Everyone around Fleetwood knows what Stephen is about. He makes us work so hard every day.

“The intensity of his sessions helps us push on, so we are ready for games like this against experienced pros. The standards he sets help us to kick on. We know what Stephen wants and that will help us moving forward.

“With players like James Hill and Shayden Morris, who I have played with in the under-23s, you can see the opportunity is there to kick on.”

Boyle's only previous senior appearance was in the same competition last season, when he came on for the closing moments of the group game against Sunderland, though he was an unused substitute at Wimbledon last Saturday.

He added: “I was buzzing to get on the bench on Saturday and to get my first start tonight, so I'm hoping to kick on from here.“

The only disappointment was that Town did not achieve the positive result against Bolton that Boyle believes they deserved.

“I thought the lads were brilliant against a very experienced Bolton side,” he said. “We're a very young side and we've done really well, in terms of the gameplan and being brave on the ball and out of possession.

“I thought we went right at them In the second half and caused them a lot of problems.

“We wanted to be in the draw for the next round. It hasn't worked out that way but we have a lot of positives to take forward.

“We looked the side more likely to score at the end. That's down to the Fleetwood philosophy: fitter and stronger.

“We can push on, especially in the last 15 minutes. That high press caused them a lot of problems.”

Crainey looks set for his third game in charge when Town visit Accrington Stanley in League One on Saturday, and the Scot stated that the young players who featured in midweek have done their prospects of remaining in his match-day squad no harm.

Boyle said: “I'm just going to take it one game at a time and hopefully I'll be involved. Saturday is a big game for us.

“I'm sure a lot of those who played tonight are in Stephen's thoughts for upcoming games.”

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