Fleetwood Town keeper Alex Cairns targets more clean sheets ahead of Barnsley trip

Having been handed the number one shirt last summer, two years after joining Town, the 26-year-old has six more games this season to try and improve on that figure.

Although the keeper is happy with his own performances, he would like Town to be higher than their 11th place in League One, 10 points adrift of sixth-placed Doncaster Rovers.

The aim now is to end the season on a high, starting with today’s game at Barnsley.

Cairns said: “I’ve been really happy with myself.

“Over the course of the season I feel like I have really taken on the number one role, taken on what has been asked of me and I will use this as another springboard going into the next season.

“Overall I’m very happy. Ideally I’d like to be in the play-offs or the top two but I understand there are other teams we have to play against and they are all after the same thing.

“I’m happy with my performances this year and looking to make it even better in the next six games.

“I’m not disappointed, we work hard on and off the field.

“We’ve had some tough times this year and we have bounced back.

“I would not see it as a disappointment I see this season as an education season, as is every season.

“You look at what you can do better.

“I still want to improve, I’m still a young goalkeeper.

“There are still things I want to improve with and without the squad, personally and collectively.

“It has not been disappointing because we have been involved in every game.

“Every game we have felt we can win and that is the environment that has been built since the new staff have come in.”

With half-a-dozen games of the season remaining, Cairns wants to reward the fans for their support during the course of the season.

He said: “I don’t think the fans realise how big they actually are for us.

“We might be a small town but they do make some noise!

“The Accrington game, we came off that pitch and you could see them all buzzing.

“They get you through the games, the hard-fought games.

“We need them at all times. We are a small town, a small club but we can make ourselves loud on the pitch, and if they can stick with us for the last six, we will look to repay their efforts.”