The secrets of survival for Fleetwood boss Sheridan

Don’t miss the latest football news and gossip from leagues in England, Scotland and Europe with footballwire.co.ukHead coach Sheridan’s unbeaten run in the Town hot-seat extended to four as he picked up his first win 2-0 at fellow strugglers Rochdale on Tuesday.

Second-half goals from Paddy Madden and Jordy Hiwula moved Town two points above both the drop zone and Northampton going into Saturday’s crunch clash between the clubs at Highbury.

That win was Town’s first in League One since beating Southend 2-1 in January and Sheridan says the key to survival is to keep their fate in their own hands, which it now is.

Sheridan said: “You have got to make yourself hard to beat. We are in this position because they have been an easy team to beat.

“It is about rolling your sleeves up. You don’t want to be relegated and the players have responded really well to me. It is about having a bit of grit and we are showing that,

“I do believe we have players in the team who will have opportunities in the final third but we have to get the basics right.

“We are working as a team and every player is working his socks off – it is a massive plus when you have that.

“We are unbeaten in four and that is all I can look at. We are getting points from each game.

“We need points to keep ourselves out of the bottom four and not to be worrying about anyone around us.

“We know we have to concentrate on ourselves and just try to pick things up from each game.

“We have another massive game on Saturday against a team who are in and around us and we have got to go into that believing we can win the game. I’ve got to breed that into the players.

“I just want to win. It is not about how we play – it is about getting points on board.

“I seen a lift from the first couple of days I was here.

“Every manager is different and tries to bring different things to the drawing board, and they have responded really well to me.

“There is nothing better than when you are not losing games, so hopefully that will breed confidence.”

And Sheridan praised the 190 travelling Cod Army for their support at the Spotland as he aims to give them their first league win at Highbury since October.

He said: “A good following on Tuesday and a good following at Charlton too.

“They have not had too much to cheer about and it is good when you are winning. “You could see they enjoyed themselves.”