Joey Barton wants Fleetwood Town to build upon Doncaster Rovers victory

Goals from Ched Evans and Harry Souttar saw Town leapfrog their visitors into ninth place in League One, five points adrift of the top six.

However, they are only seven behind third-placed Peterborough United and with three games in hand.

“We’ve got to build on this performance now,” said Barton.

“Doncaster are a really good side.

“Darren Moore has gone in there after managing in the Premier League and the Championship, and he’s got a good team full of experienced players.

“I thought we nullified most of Doncaster’s threat, and the Fylde coast weather didn’t allow both teams to get the ball down and play the good football they are both capable of.

“It was a day for doing the basics superbly, though, and we’ve scored two goals from set plays, so the three points taste really nice.

“We’ve still got lots of work to do, but we have got those reinforcements in now and that gives us a lovely platform.”

As Barton acknowledged, the blustery conditions at Highbury didn’t help either side in the early stages.

However, once Town got to grips with the weather, they proved good value for their half-time lead courtesy of Evans’ 35th-minute goal.

Souttar had also seen a header cleared off the line before finding the net early in the second half.

Niall Ennis gave Rovers hope by pulling a goal back but Town deservedly took victory.

That win came 24 hours after the closing of the transfer window in which Barton proved a busy boss with a number of players coming in and others heading out.

Barton said: “We had a tough January last year, losing a lot of players and bringing one in, but that actually galvanised us.

“We settled down after that.

“This January has been better, but it has been equally turbulent.

“It’s a horrible space to be in as a manager because you’re out there waiting for your flock to be raided by other people, while you’re trying to raid other people’s flock to get the right sheep out of their club.

“We think we’ve done as good a business in the marketplace as we could have, and we’ve managed to do it under budget.

“We think we’ve got good value in a January window that lots of teams we think didn’t.”