Barton frustrated by wasteful Fleetwood

Posted Thursday, October 24, 2019 by PA

Joey Barton rued Fleetwood’s wastefulness as his side threw away a 1-0 half-time lead to lose 2-1 to Coventry at St Andrew’s.

Paddy Madden gave the visitors a deserved lead when he latched onto a Ched Evans effort to tap in from close range after 10 minutes.

Barton’s men had several chances to increase their lead but failed to make the most of their dominance.

A rearranged Coventry came out in the second half and turned the game around with Amadou Bakayoko’s goal and a Zain Westbrooke penalty to claim all three points.

Barton said: “If you don’t play for 90 (minutes) you don’t win matches. Key moments, people making decisions that ultimately cost us.

“All well and good playing well for large parts but you’ve got to see the job through – it isn’t over until it’s over.

“We are really disappointed as we should have put the game away with the quality of chances we created, but if you don’t take them you give the opposition a sniff and full credit to them for taking their opportunity.

“It’s frustrating, giving away a soft penalty. A young centre-half who makes a mistake – which you have to accept sometimes they do – that we have to put down to learning, but if we want to win a title we have to learn quicker.

“We got ourselves in a commanding position, but they had to change and they switched to three at the back and lumped it forward.

“They did it superbly and it caused us problems, enough to win them the game, but if you don’t take your opportunities and you waste them, you don’t get that second goal and you leave yourself open. We have to learn those lessons.”

Coventry manager Mark Robins said: “We did alright first half, if lacking in confidence, but the belief has got to be there and winning this game should give us lots of belief.

“The way they set up made it difficult to overcome and we were a little bit slow. We tried to break them down but we didn’t get into that rhythm .

“But the players did really well in the second half, kept their chances to a minimum, defended really well and the changes helped get a foothold and turn the tide.

“Bakayoko’s goal was a great finish. The move leading up to the penalty was superb and Zain Westbrooke took it brilliantly.

“It was a really good three points for us, really good. We have a team with some players who are just finding their feet, but I thought the chances we made really helped.”