Alexander – We Had To Be Patient

Manager Graham Alexander has said the side had to be patient today and wait for our chance to create an advantage in the Hartlepool game.

It took until the second half before Fleetwood got their noses in front thanks to a goal from Jon Parkin, and only two minutes later we doubled our advantage through loan signing Alex Marrow.

In the end it was more than enough as defensively we kept another clean sheet in the game, but there’s no denying that the first half sending off of Jordan Richards, who was dismissed inside three minute of the game for a late challenge on Jeff Hughes, helped us immensely even though we had to wait to tire them out.

Speaking to the Official Site following the game, Alexander explained.

‘It’s very difficult to play against ten men. The sending off so early on was obviously a main talking point and sometimes thoughts can creep in that you may have already won the game, but that certainly wasn’t going to happen. I talked to the lads about being patient and not go and try and win the match within ten minutes. We remained patient and we played some good football in the second half and we could have scored a couple of goals before we actually did.’

The gaffer also couldn’t help but credit the quality of finishing from Parkin and Marrow, but obviously having already discussed the red card, the gaffer gave us an update on Hughes who had to leave the field after the challenge on the eight minute.

The player is currently in a medical boot and on crutches, but at this stage it is purely precautionary because of the whack he took, and he will be going for scans to ensure that he hasn’t received any real damage.

Hopefully they’ll be more news tomorrow but fingers crossed it’s only bruising.