Joey Barton’s delight after Fleetwood Town get the better of Peterborough United

Both sides shrugged off the best that Storm Dennis could throw at them to produce an entertaining, end-to-end clash, but the hosts emerged as worthy winners.

Town’s fourth straight success means they remain on the periphery of the League One play-off places – and with games in hand – as they ended Posh’s run of six consecutive wins.

Barton said: “There’s no doubt Peterborough will be there or thereabouts in April or May but we can gatecrash the party.

“Wycombe haven’t managed to beat us over two games either.

“Maybe this was a game between the two form teams in the division, but we knew this was a chance to stop their momentum and really springboard ours going into some tough fixtures.

“We’ve got Pompey at home next Saturday now, then Sunderland up there in midweek, and it’s absolutely great isn’t it?

“Just to have us in that mix, in that conversation, is brilliant.

“We’re happy with the boys right now. We’ve got a real squad full of togetherness, you can see that.

“We’ve got players who are coming onto the pitch and making an impact, it’s just been a great squad effort.”

Alex Cairns had given away an early penalty, fouling Siriki Dembele, only to save Mo Eisa’s spot-kick.

Callum Connolly gave Town the lead with his first goal for the club before Danny Andrew struck the visitors’ woodwork.

Peterborough levelled through Dan Butler but it was Wes Burns who netted the winner with 14 minutes left.

Barton said: “I spoke to the lads in the build-up and I said ‘if we win today or lose, it isn’t going to make or break our season’, but it was just three vital points on offer.

“If Peterborough had won they’d have been 10 points clear of us, so now it’s just four and we’ve got three games in hand.

“They are a really good side in this division. They’d won six on the spin, so we knew we’d have to play the game in the right manner, especially in these conditions.

“Sometimes in these types of games it’s just position over possession, but in the second half in particular, I thought we were superb with our game management.

“Looking back, other than the wonder strike for their equaliser, I can’t think of a great deal else they created. We thoroughly deserved to win the game in my view.”