Rosler: My young Fleetwood squad must learn fast

They have conceded 11 in their last four games but after losing 4-1 at Portsmouth, Fleetwood boss Uwe Rosler backed his young squad to learn from their start to the campaign.
Kyle Dempsey was sent off at PortsmouthKyle Dempsey was sent off at Portsmouth
Kyle Dempsey was sent off at Portsmouth

After opening the season with three straight wins and three clean sheets, Town have been leaking goals of late.

Having lost their previous away game 3-1 at Bristol Rovers, Town maintained their unbeaten home start with a 2-2 draw with Oldham and a 3-2 win over Bury before losing to promoted Pompey.

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Town have the youngest squad in the division, with an average age of 23.1, and skipper Nathan Pond was the only player over 30 in the side at Fratton Park.

Now Rosler has called on his young guns to learn fast. He said: “We need to be better in those situations but we will be calm.

“We signed up to this squad of players and this sort of profile – we have a young squad. We are backing our quality and believing we can still have success with the youngest squad in the league but we need to learn out of this.”

Brett Pitman opened the scoring with a brave back-post header just before the break.

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Devante Cole levelled with a spectacular volley shortly after the restart but Lowe popped up unmarked to restore the hosts’ lead.

Town were denied a clear penalty when Cole was tripped but remained on his feet to try to shoot.

Rosler was unhappy about that but was honest in his assesment that Town need to improve their defending in the box as Lowe fired home from an impossible angle and Pitman curled in a 25-yarder.

The game eneded with Kyle Dempsey dismissed for a second yellow card, something Rosler had no qualms with.

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And he refused to criticise Cole for staying on his feet, summing up the game as “up and down”.

Rosler said: “The first ten minutes we were good and should have taken the lead.

“Then the two teams cancelled each other out.

Portsmouth got a little bit of an upper hand, got a goal – again it was a mistake from us in the box.

“There was a slow build-up and we had enough bodies to deal with it but we didn’t.

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“In the second half we got the equaliser in our best period, then we are conceding a goal again in the box with enough bodies around.

“I still felt at 2-1 there was a situation were Devante Cole got clipped in the box.

“I spoke to the referee. He confirmed there was contact in the box.

“I didn’t understand why then punish a player who tried to be honest and stay on his feet.

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“Clearly the player lost balance and in the end a goalscoring opportunity was denied.

“Devante had clearly passed the defender. The defender had tripped him.

“All over the pitch that would have been a free-kick but in front of 17,000 the referee did not make a big call and he should have.

“After that we fall together and that is the story of the game.

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“Portsmouth’s goals came at the right moments and have affected us more than them. That’s the bottom line.

“But are we surprised about that after pre-season until now because we know that we are a little bit unstable.”