Barton seeks a solution to Fleetwood Town's home discomforts

Fleetwood Town boss Joey Barton admits he is baffled by his side's home form.
Fleetwood Town and Accrington Stanley drew on SaturdayFleetwood Town and Accrington Stanley drew on Saturday
Fleetwood Town and Accrington Stanley drew on Saturday

Town made it seven unbeaten in the league with a 1-1 draw against Accrington Stanley at Highbury.

Cian Bolger had marked his return to Town’s starting line-up with a goal but Sean McConville levelled things up in the 70th minute.

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Barton admitted it was the poorest his side had played since their opening day 1-0 defeat to AFC Wimbledon.

Having joked about asking the EFL if Town could play away from Highbury each week, Barton admitted their home form had to improve – but could not put his finger on what was causing the difference.

He said: “I’m like: ‘what are we doing differently that we do away from home?’

“I’m going to write to the EFL and ask if we can play every game away which would be a first for a football team!

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“We said to the lads in the dressing room: ‘the fans are brilliant here, they stick with you.’

“You don’t hear anyone getting on anyone’s back.

“It is not the fans that are creating this kind of issue, it is the players.

“They just have to stop being as weird as they are and embrace the challenge, which is turning this place into a very difficult place to come.

“We have got to improve that but there are lots we are going to have to improve if we are going to be where we want to be come May.”

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However, Town still managed to preserve their unbeaten run ahead of Saturday’s trip to Southend United and another different test.

Barton said: “We spoke to them at half-time; you get in a position to win a game and the disappointing thing for me is, away from home, we have been ruthless – very clinical – but at home we have not had the same application.

“It is something that baffles me because it is the same graft and 11 players but you have to learn to close games out.

“For us, you want to win games of football; we are progressing nicely.

“Maybe this was a game we would have lost in previous seasons.

“We cannot be disappointed with a point because, credit to Accrington, they were worthy of a point.”