Player Fleetwood let go was 'outstanding' against us, admits Joey Barton after defeat at Northampton

Fleetwood Town boss Joey Barton sportingly paid tribute to Northampton defender Cian Bolger, who haunted his former club with Tuesday’s winner at Sixfields.
High-flying Cian Bolger was Northampton's matchwinner against FleetwoodHigh-flying Cian Bolger was Northampton's matchwinner against Fleetwood
High-flying Cian Bolger was Northampton's matchwinner against Fleetwood
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The Irish centre-half met Nicky Adams’ corner with a bullet header for the only goal of the game, denying Fleetwood a return to the top six in League One.

Bolger spent two and a half seasons with Town before Barton allowed him to leave for Lincoln City in January last year. He moved on to the Cobblers this summer.

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And head coach Barton said: “Credit to Cian – he was released by us because he couldn’t get in our side but he was outstanding tonight.

“They defended resolutely to keep us at bay because we controlled a lot of the territory. They’ve managed to get that goal and hang on regardless of what we threw at them.

“They managed to keep us out without us really testing the keeper, so sometimes you have to give defenders credit.

“You don’t always hear that in football because everyone usually goes on about the attacking prowess of whichever team has won. I think sometimes defences get overlooked.”

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Northampton keeper Steve Arnold did deny Ched Evans twice as Fleetwood fell to a fifth defeat in seven away games.

“You just need to score that first goal,” added Barton. “I think if we scored first you are probably looking at an easy night’s work due to their inability to get out of their half.

“When we did manage to find a ricochet, we didn’t have our goalscoring players dropping on it and sometimes in football you do have nights like that.

“You can be lucky over 90 minutes but I don’t think you can be lucky over the course of 46 games, so we just have to keep believing in the process.”

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