Rosler: Fleetwood must keep battling

Uwe Rosler has urged his Fleetwood Town players to keep up their fighting spirit with eight games left and some familiar faces expected to boost his squad before the final curtain on April 30.
Uwe RoslerUwe Rosler
Uwe Rosler

Town have been hampered by injuries throughout a run of 21 League One games in which they have lost only once.

Skipper Nathan Pond, striker Wes Burns, midfielders Jimmy Ryan and Martyn Woolford, substitute keeper Chris Neal and forward Devante Cole are all doubts for Saturday’s trip to Bury.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Rosler’s third-placed side have suffered more than most of their promotion-chasing rivals. Midfielder Kyle Dempsey, full-backs Conor McLaughlin and Amari’i Bell and centre-half Ashley Eastham have all missed games due to knocks.

Centre-half Cian Bolger also proved his mettle by playing all 90 minutes of Town’s last three games despite a chest infection.

Bolger was the matchwinner as Town bounced back from the 4-2 loss to Bolton – their first league defeat in four months – to win 1-0 at Walsall and then collect another vital point as they drew 0-0 at home to AFC Wimbledon on Saturday.

And Rosler stressed the importance of getting the balance right between resting and training to prevent the injury list increasing.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The German is hopeful Town will have a fresher-looking squad to select from in the next two weeks.

He said: “We are limited in a way that we are missing five or six players from our first 14 or 15 players. Over time it will be hard to keep up with that.

“All we need to do now is do what we are doing – keep morale high, keep fitness high and hope players return sooner rather than later.

“It is very important we get it right between resting, bringing players back and training.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I think in two weeks’ time we will have different players available.”

“I think It is a massive ask for Kyle to play every single minute. Now we have Cameron Brannagan in there, who can give us energy and also quality, maybe a goal.

“I need to be careful to make sure we are not running people into the ground and getting more injuries.”

Fleetwood are now four points outside the automatic promotion places after second-placed Bolton won their game in hand 4-2 at Oxford, the Trotters’ fourth win in 11 days.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Stuart Murdoch has left his role as academy manager at Fleetwood to take up the new position of director of player development, monitor the progress of Town players out on loan. The club is seeking to recruit a new academy manager.