Fleetwood Town clash with Aston Villa Under-21s can't come quickly enough for Joey Barton

Games cannot come quickly enough for Fleetwood Town head coach Joey Barton after four straight defeats in all competitions.
Harvey Saunders scored twice in Fleetwood's first EFL Trophy tie this season against Carlisle before netting his first league goal at Rochdale on SaturdayHarvey Saunders scored twice in Fleetwood's first EFL Trophy tie this season against Carlisle before netting his first league goal at Rochdale on Saturday
Harvey Saunders scored twice in Fleetwood's first EFL Trophy tie this season against Carlisle before netting his first league goal at Rochdale on Saturday
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Town have enough quality but need to close out tight games says Barton

Three of those have come in League One, with Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Rochdale following the defeats to AFC Wimbledon and Peterbrough United.

It leaves the Cod Army one place above the relegation zone ahead of this week’s two Highbury games – tonight’s EFL Trophy tie with Aston Villa’s Under-21s (7.45pm) and Friday’s Sky Sports clash with Hull City.

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Barton said: “We’re happy to get back to football. We haven’t won in three league games now and the League Cup game against Everton.

“We’re coming off the back of four defeats and we’re keen to get back to winning ways.

“We’ll pick the team for Tuesday night to hopefully beat Aston Villa and then a tough fixture in the league against an in-form Hull City.

“We’ll have a look at the bodies and how they come out of this game because it’s a Tuesday-Friday, quite a quick turnaround.

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“The priority for us, having lost three league games, will be the league, so we’ll see where we are Tuesday night.

“We’ll make a call on it. We have a lot of young players who have been on the bench in recent weeks and are champing at the bit.

“We’ll probably have a look at them against Villa’s Under-21s and see how they match up.

“We’ll have one eye on the Sky fixture on Friday against one of the top teams in the division, Hull City.”

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Having fallen behind at Rochdale, Town levelled through substitute Harvey Saunders only for Fabio Tavares’ last-minute goal to give the home side victory.

As well as Saunders, other attack-minded players in Mark Duffy and Paul Coutts came off the bench as Town sought parity.

Barton said: “The subs worked until the 90th minute. We were 1-0 down and my motto is you might as well lose 2-0 or 3-0 as 1-0 – there are only three points on offer.

“We’ve lost three points and it feels like a devastating loss but they’ve gone from having one point to three. It will be a big win for them because from what we saw they’re going to be up against it.

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“If we’re not careful we’re going to be in the same boat because we’ve lost three out of four fixtures in the league.

“It’s all well and good finishing in the play-offs last year but this is a tough, competitive league, and if you’re not bang at it every week you won’t win games of football.”