This was postponed on Saturday due to a waterlogged pitch and rescheduled for this evening.
I feel this could help the visitors, York City and supporters were really fired up for the first game, home areas were sold up and energy levels pumped up in the build up and to have it called off at the last moment left a feeling of disappointment and it will not be so easy to re-create that atmosphere just two days later. The hosts are unbeaten in 17 games and have collected 11 points more that Town over the second half of the campaign, despite finishing three places lower, they have the momentum going into the post season, but I feel that of all teams in League 2, that means less against Fleetwood than anyone else. The visitors are very talented and equally inconsistent and on a going day can beat anyone, or likewise shoot themselves in the foot, but man for man, I feel they have not just the strongest squad, but one with the matchwinners for a game like this.
They have tended to up their game in the tougher fixtures and put in several impressive performances against the best that League 2 has to offer, ahead of a trip to promoted Scunthorpe United at the end of January I wrote ...
The visitors are coming off a 4-2 win at Burton Albion, another promotion rival on Saturday, where oddly , they scored all six goals ! To twice give up a lead to own goals and still run out fairly comfortable winners says a lot about the spirit at the club and it was a dominating performance, it was the third time the two clubs had met this season (once in the FA Cup), Albion had won both, but Town had learned a lot from the previous two and were really up for this. Burton boss Gary Rowett said : "Well I think first and foremost, that was by far the best Fleetwood have played against us this season and they made it very, very difficult for us".
We have been "with" Town for the last five years or so, from Conference North when I spotted them as a potential Football League team, through the National and into League 2 and maybe beyond. The first thing that caught my eye was that they paid a large six figure sum to completely upgrade their playing surface, that is the pitch, not the stadium, I know many league teams that would not even consider that sort of outlay, let alone a sixth tier team and it was clear that the board were serious and had long term plans and so it has proven. Right through those leagues they have signed good quality, whenever possible, always a little better than the league they were in required, looking forward each time, I touched upon this in the pre season notes. They also kept a big squad, which gave them alternatives and which we got a lot a lot of winners out of, especially in midweek games, when they were almost always stronger than less well funded opponents, who were not equipped for three games per week.
This season they have been a bit hit and miss, but with the turn of the year, have upped their game, winning all four starts and scoring ten goals in the process and that is not counting any in their own net ! David Ball, Jon Parkin and Antoni Sarcevic give them big offensive options, but a sign of their ambition, is that despite hitting form and scoring goals, they wanted to upgrade the squad in the window and made a couple of eye catching signings. Midfielder Alex Marrow re-signed on loan from Blackburn Rovers until the end of the season, he played four times for the Championship club this season and has slipped straight back into the groove here, having played 20 times for the Cod Army last season, on a previous loan. I also like the addition of Sunderland's 19 yo French striker Mikael Mandron, who has also joined until the end of the campaign, he has made two appearance off the bench for the Black Cats and after only just being upgraded to the U21 side, has 6 goals in 7 starts. They clearly think a lot of him at the EPL club and want him to get some league experience, he has only played an hour off the bench so far, but has already contributed two assists, he is very quick, has good vision and can hold the ball up, even two of those attributes gives him more than many players at this level. I understand that Jon Parkin has been really good and close to his best for the last month and whilst I joke about his size and he is a big old unit, at his best, he is way too good for League 2."
They played really well that day, drew 0-0 but dominated all but the very early stages and should have taken all three points. They have been wildly inconsistent since and this cost them dear, especially at home and they definitely should have finished top 3, I took another look at them before a trip to struggling Exeter city later in the year ............I understand they (Fleet) have played really well over the last two games and if they are to be involved in the title race, or at least claim an automatic promotion spot, they need all three points this afternoon. Upturn in fortune has coincided with the return to goalscoring form of Antoni Sarcevic and Jon Parkin and return to action of Jamille Matt, who is very key to them and 10 of 12 Town defeats have come when he has played 35 minutes or less. Equally important IMO has been the drying pitches, which suit the better quality Town players and I expect them to push on now through the final two months of the regular season.
Boss Graham Alexander seriously upgraded his options this week by going back to his former club to take Iain Hume on loan. Long term readers will know this is a player I really admire, the Canadian international is too good for League 1, let alone League 2 on a going day and might just be the signing which pushes them over the finishing line. He is easily identifiable as on his shaven head, he has the biggest scar you will ever see . The18-inch scar curves around his skull in a horseshoe shape, it begins next to his left ear, carved deep into his scalp above three titanium clips and his temporal lobe, courtesy of a horror (elbow) challenge from Chris Morgan of Sheffield United, which left Hume with a fractured skull and bleeding on his brain. He was lucky to be alive let alone play again and it says much about him as a man that he has and if he starts today and is even close to full fitness, his movement will give the City backline a long afternoon.
They actually lost that easily and it says much about what has gone wrong this season, they were dismal that day, but have won both away starts since, with Hume really impressing over the closing weeks of the season and they have not lost a match (4-3-0 ) when he plays 45 minutes or more, he only came on after the break at City btw, when they were already chasing the match . Town boss Alexander has been able to keep the talented Mr Hume for the post season, he is a very upbeat influence on the team and a step above what you usually see at this level. The coach said the mood in the home camp was good : "The boys are in a really good place at the moment, they are positive about it, they know what’s on offer and I think they know what is needed to achieve that prize. "
The visitors did win here early in the campaign, City have obviously improved since, but this is a stadium and surroundings very familiar to many of the Cod Army, Jon Parkin spent three years here, Charlie Taylor was on loan at City last season and Matty Blair was voted City POTY in each of the previous two seasons before moving to Town in the off season, he was 41-10-4 in their promotion season and 44-6-5 in their first season in the Football League. The Minstermen also tried to sign both Jamille Matt and Ryan Cresswell, before the pair opted to make the move to Highbury and that duo will be additionally motivated to prove they made the correct decision.
I do not want to get overly involved, with the concerns about the pitch, but I can see the movement of Hume causing City problems and favour the greater goal threat of the visitors to prevail. 1 unit Fleetwood Town 2.31 level ball asian line/Ibramarket.
Good Luck.
