Rosler delighted to reward Fleetwood fans

The Cod Army travelled in their numbers to watch Devante Cole and Ash Hunter’s goals fire Town to a 2-1 win at Oldham.

Kean Bryan’s 82nd-minute set-piece made the closing embers of the game interesting but Town held on to move up to 14th.

The result leaves Town seven points above the drop zone and eight off the play-offs. Rosler hopes this is a turning point for his team, who gave him the perfect reaction to that disappointing 2-0 defeat to Gillingham on Friday.

He said: “Finally I’m very happy we gave them (the fans) something back and they were fantastic.

“We went over to celebrate (with them). Sometimes you have to dig deep all together as a football club and go through difficult times together.

“I hope that was the start for better times again, like we had last season and also at the beginning of this season.”

Town held an hour-long meeting after the Gillingham game and Rosler certainly got his response as he switched to 4-3-3 and made a number of changes.

He said: “In the situation we were in it was perfect we won that game. Everybody on the bus, including the substitutes and the staff, get a big clap on the shoulder because in the last weeks our character has been tested and we showed to our fans and to ourselves how much character we have.

“In the past weeks, when we conceded one we immediately conceded the second. We could not deal with the disappointment on the pitch but at Oldham we could.

“I think something good that came out of the last game was the talk afterwards and I think the players stood really firm.

“It was not an easy game, with their height and physicality, but we coped really well.

“The centre-halves and Lewie Coyle and Amari’i Bell, who are not the tallest, dealt really well with the physicality.

“In midfield we were really intense closing people down and we did a good job on Jack Byrne.

“We worked as a unit attacking and defending, everyone felt responsible and I’m very happy with that.”

Rosler gave keeper Chris Neal his first league start since November last year as Alex Cairns dropped down to the bench.

Loan pair Baily Cargill and Aiden O’Neill were left out of the matchday squad, though Rosler said that was for tactical reasons despite allegations of the duo swearing towards the dugout during the defeat by Gillingham.

Wes Burns, Markus Schwabl and Hunter all came into the side, the latter marking his return with a goal.

Rosler’s changes paid dividends, with Town ending a run of just one league win in 12.

The head coach added: “We changed the way we played because of performances, because of understanding what we are about and I’m happy we did it. The players that came in stood firm and played really well.

“I think Alex Cairns took it fantastically. He understood my reasons for it, and he was supportive of my decision and of Chris.

“Chris came in and I’m very happy with the two lads and the professionalism of Alex.

“I always told Chris there will be times you will be asked to play and now it is his turn.”

On the omission of Cargill, Rosler said: “We only played with two centre-halves and only needed one on the bench.”

As for O’Neill, he said: “I spoke to Aiden and he said he was lacking confidence a little bit, so we took him out of the firing line and gave him time in training to build up confidence.”