Joey Barton backs keeper Alex Cairns to make most of new opportunity at Fleetwood Town

Coleman joined in the summer from Huddersfield Town and had been chosen as the first-choice keeper going into the new campaign, taking the number one jersey.

The new shot-stopper picked up his injury in the win over Wigan Athletic in the Carabao Cup last Saturday and tweeted that he expects to be out of action for three to five months.

And Fleetwood have today signed the former Blackburn Rovers and Shrewsbury Town keeper Jayson Leutwiler to provide competition for Cairns.

Speaking ahead of the Leutwiler deal, head coach Barton said: “It’s a blow. He came in in the summer and you want to see him hit the ground running.

“It’s a big blow for Joel and a big blow for the group. We’ve had to scramble around a bit.

“Luckily, in Alex Cairns we’ve got somebody who has played a lot of games for us, somebody who has an understanding of that position in the number one slot.

“He doesn’t give you that worry that you’d maybe normally have if you suffered an injury to your senior goalkeeper.

“Luckily for us we had two good goalkeepers and that plays out now for the weekend where the lads go in confident because they know just how good Al is.

“They’ve had him in the club for a long time and also they know that when called upon he’s made some massive saves for us, certainly over my time here and in his whole career at Fleetwood Town.”

27-year-old Cairns was stripped of the number one jersey this summer in favour of Coleman. Billy Crellin and Matt Gilks have both departed for Bolton Wanderers over the summer – Crellin on a season-long loan and Gilks in a coaching capacity.

For Barton, it wasn’t easy to part longtime first-choice Cairns from the shirt number that most professionals in his position crave.

He added: “It’s never easy. They’re big decisions as head coach that you have to make.

“You’re always trying to progress the group. You’re always trying to get better.

“We’re looking to push on in many departments.

“Billy Crellin is someone we’ve got high hopes for. We felt it was very important for Bill to have a season playing games. When the Bolton loan came about, we thought it was an opportunity for the long term.

“We were down to one senior keeper and at that point we had to dip into the market.

“We were lucky to find Joel. He came in and gave a great account of himself, and we felt he was just ahead of Al after the pre-season campaign.

“Then he’s picked up the injury.

“Cairnsy hadn’t given up on Fleetwood Town. He’d seen a keeper come in who was taking the number one jersey. And the type of lad that Al is, he just knuckled down.

“He’s been doing all the right things in training and made sure that he’d be ready if required.

“It’s a funny game, football. Sometimes it just presents opportunities to you that you’ve got to be ready to take full advantage of.

“Al will get the opportunity on Saturday and, depending on the longevity of Joel’s injury, it looks like he might get an opportunity to show everyone that he is Fleetwood’s number one and make it difficult for Joel to come back.

“We want competition. I want competition right the way through the squad. I think it’s important for players.”