Simon Grayson on Fleetwood Town win at Barrow: We had to stop my son

The Town boss earned his money with a half-time team-talk that sparked a three-goal second- half show against the League Two Cumbrians and sealed back-to-back group wins for Fleetwood ahead of their 10-day break from match action.

It also spoiled the night for Grayson's son Joe, now a Barrow player, as Jay Matete, Ryan Edmondson and Max McMillan all netted in a 21-minute spell.

“It was never easy watching him play against you,” admitted dad Simon. “In the first half, he played well on the ball.

“So we had to stop him from starting most of their attacks. It was a test but we had to ask questions of him and the rest of Barrow’s defenders.

“It was nice to have this game but nice to get it out of the way as well."

As for his message at half-time, when Town trailed to an Offrande Zanzala strike, Grayson said: “We needed to move the ball quicker. You stand off players at any level and teams can play.

“Barrow had good movement, good rotation and good footballers, so we needed to be more aggressive to stop them and try to get more mistakes out of them. More intensity is the key word we used.”

Fleetwood face Accrington Stanley in their final group game next month, with both clubs already through to the next stage.

Stanley were 5-0 winners on Tuesday against Leicester City's Under-21s, who Fleetwood beat 4-1 in their opening match.

Grayson said: “We want to win every game and that’s why against Leicester we were really strong.

“In this one, we had as strong a team as we could put out given the injuries we have got.”

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