Joey Barton takes some satisfaction from Fleetwood Town’s draw against Shrewsbury Town

Fleetwood Town head coach Joey Barton admitted he was ‘delighted’ with a point after his players twice came from behind to draw with Shrewsbury Town.
Fleetwood Town head coach Joey BartonFleetwood Town head coach Joey Barton
Fleetwood Town head coach Joey Barton

Josh Morris bagged a late equaliser for Town, who have won just once in their last eight league fixtures.

Barton, whose side are 11th in the table, four points shy of the play-offs, said: “Forget the goal we conceded at the end, I thought in the first half we were in complete control.

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“We knew what we were going to face today – a team who are playing a 3-6-1 formation – so it was always going to be a tough ask.

“Don’t forget Shrewsbury had secured themselves a nice cup tie with Liverpool during the week thanks to beating Bristol City, so we knew they’d be buoyed and full of confidence.

“You could see they came for a draw, though, just by looking at their gameplan.

“It was disappointing to give them a first goal, that was a real comedy of errors, but we spoke to the lads at half-time and told them that they were going to have to climb off the canvas.

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“We scored a great goal from Lewie Coyle, and that was a real moment of quality, but then we go and give them another goal.

“That was a great finish from Jason Cummings to be fair, but credit to our lads, we’ve scored a magnificent equaliser.

“I’m disappointed not to have won the game, but when you come back twice like that, you have to be delighted with a point, weirdly.”

Barton’s men had dominated the opening half-hour, with Ched Evans, Danny Andrew and Wes Burns all missing decent half-chances.

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Shaun Whalley hit the woodwork for the visitors before opening the scoring on 39 minutes.

Coyle levelled after the break but Shrewsbury retook the lead when Cummings slotted home with nine minutes to go.

Morris had the final word when he lashed home.

“It’s another point on the board,” added Barton.

“In this league every point is valuable, certainly given the way the teams all play against each other.

“We always try to win games of course, I’m not a huge fan of draws so let’s play attacking football is my feeling.

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“We went for the win late on, we conceded a second goal, but we decided to stick with what we had on the pitch and thankfully Josh came up with the goods.

“Credit to Shrewsbury. They’ve hung on and gone away with a point I’m sure they’d have been delighted with before the game.”