Alex Cairns: Fleetwood Town will buy into the Stephen Crainey way

Crainey stepped up from his role as the club’s Under-23s chief following Simon Grayson’s sacking on Wednesday and has conducted two training sessions ahead of this afternoon’s League One trip to AFC Wimbledon.

After the first of those sessions, Cairns revealed: “We’ll buy into what Crains wants. It’s a good group and the tide will turn.

“He said to be positive and he demands a lot. He wants us to play the way we train and train the way we play, and to be the best versions of ourselves.

“He will demand positivity and will bring the whole group together. We are all part of this together and we want to climb the table, so it’s onwards and upwards.”

Former Scotland internation Crainey is a familiar face to all the players at Highbury, having been on the coaching staff for four years, and is well placed to unite the younger and older players around the club.

Cairns added: “Of course it’s always hard after losing a good manager, but it’s work as usual for the players and Crains is someone we know well.

“He said, ‘Let’s have a good go’ and training has been sharp and intense.”

Wimbledon have been boosted by a midweek win over bottom club Crewe Alexandra but had previously been on a similar run to Town, losing five out of six.

Fleetwood are without a win in eight games, losing seven of them, but Cairns remains convinced third-bottom Town are in a false position.

He added: “You can’t look too far ahead and we always look at the next game, but we have gone toe to toe with all the top clubs in this division.

“And if we get that defensive resilience, we can start to get the results we want.

“If we can be one per cent better at everything we do, then it can only benefit us as a group. It’s time to start turning the tide.”

Victory today could see Fleetwood climb two places and escape from the bottom four.

Town’s visit to Cairns’ hometown club Doncaster Rovers has been rearranged for Tuesday, February 1, with a 7.45pm kick-off.

The Keepmoat clash between two clubs currently in the relegation zone was scheduled to take place a fortnight ago but was postponed because of international call-ups.

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