Fleetwood Town boss Joey Barton takes aim at Accrington Stanley’s ‘poor’ pitch

The Town head coach has been less than complimentary about the state of the Wham Stadium’s pitch ahead of Saturday’s scheduled League One meeting.

Fleetwood did not play at the weekend due to the postponement of their match with Sunderland.

The Black Cats had numerous international call-ups and Town would have been without Harry Souttar due to his exploits with the Australian Under-23 set-up.

Results elsewhere on Saturday mean that Town are now 11th in the League One table with six weeks of the season remaining.

They are six points adrift of a Peterborough United side in the final play-off position – though Doncaster would go back into the top six if they avoid defeat against Bristol Rovers tomorrow.

Rather than have a second straight blank weekend, Barton is determined to see his side play any sort of game.

He said: “We could end up with another week off looking at Accrington’s pitch!

“If the weather stays like it has been I’d be surprised if it is on because it is as poor a surface as you are likely to see for even a Sunday league team.

“I will be surprised if it is (on). If it is off we will have to schedule a game at the training ground.

“We don’t want to go three weeks without a game at this stage in the season.”