Joey Barton targets "four or five" Fleetwood Town signings before deadline

After starting the season with four straight wins in league and cups, Barton's side suffered their first defeat on Saturday, when Peterborough United scored twice in stoppage-time to pull off a 2-1 victory.

Town are yet to keep a clean sheet this season and are blooding the youthful central defensive partnership of teenage academy graduate James Hill and new signing Sam Stubbs, who had never played at League One level on joining the club this month.

Head coach Barton said: “We’ve got an 18-year old in there and a 21-year old playing only his third game at centre-half, and we’re nowhere near the levels we need to be at.

“We’ve got four or five more hopefully to bring in in the next few weeks and we will get there. I’ve seen enough quality and we’ll be absolutely fine.”

Town must dust themselves down for a quick return to action against Everton in the Carabao Cup third round on Wednesday and Barton added: "I’m disappointed because we’ve lost a bit of our momentum and we’ve got to take a long, hard look at ourselves to ensure we learn the right lessons."