Rosler's world a brighter place this New Year at Fleetwood

After clinching the club’s highest-ever league finish and narrowly missing out on promotion to the Championship, Town have endured two months of toil.

But they ended a run of just one win in 12 League One games with back-to-back away victories at Oldham and Bury, and now prepare to face the side that dashed their promotion dream, Bradford City, at Highbury on New Year's Day.

And with his side 11th in the table, Rosler believes the club is in a good place entering 2018.

Reflecting on the past year, the head coach said: “For the majority of the time there were a lot of highs, sky highs, some highs the club has never had before – third round of the FA Cup, highest position, highest points tally, play-offs.

“We had a very good pre-season, a very good start to the season but obviously over the last couple of months we had a very difficult time.

“You can say 10 months very positive, two months when we had to dig really deep and find out about ourselves, our club and our relationships.

“We are not out of the woods but we found a way to stabilise ourselves.

“Now players are coming back and we might have a chance to do things in January, then I think we are in a good place going forward into 2018.”

Town were boosted by the return of Conor McAleny, who has been hampered by a recurring ankle injury but managed 20 minutes off the bench.

Rosler hinted he may get the nod to face the Bantams. Midfielder Bobby Grant (knee) is also nearing a return.

Rosler is also hopeful of a busy January transfer window.

Left-back Amari’i Bell and striker Devante Cole are attracting interest, while Town have been linked with a move for Manchester City’s Kean Bryan, who is currently on loan at Oldham.

Rosler was full of praise for his players for turning around the doom and gloom of recent weeks.

He said: “It was important to get that result on Saturday to give us a little bit of breathing space.

“Conor McAleny looked really sharp. It was a very hard and good 20 minutes for him, attacking and defending. He did both really well and he looked sharp. He is now an option to start games for us.

“Bobby Grant is not far away and the January transfer window is here. The world looks better now at Fleetwood.

“All credit to the players that they came through that period.

“A lot of our young players will learn (lessons) for the rest of their careers, coming through a dark spell, finding a way out and finding a way to win games.

“Confidence is much higher now, everything goes lighter and easier at the training ground.”