Stephen Crainey lauds debutant Ellis Harrison after winner for Fleetwood

Posted Sunday, January 09, 2022 by PA

Fleetwood boss Stephen Crainey hailed the impact of new signing Ellis Harrison after he scored the winner in the crunch relegation clash with Doncaster.

Harrison’s arrival on a permanent transfer from Portsmouth was only announced two hours before kick-off but he wasted no time in making an impression by scoring the only goal of a dour game after 50 minutes.

Crainey expects the striker will add a new dimension to his team as he settles in.

He said: “It was brilliant to see him score. You’re looking for that when you bring a number nine in and, hopefully, he can follow that up and build on it with a few more.

“We are a nice football team that likes to pass the ball but Ellis brings us something different.

“He brings quality on the ball but also has a physical presence and gives us new options, which is good and it was a great debut.

“Hopefully, Ellis can get a few goals for us between now and the end of the season.”

Crainey felt Fleetwood needed more ruthlessness overall as they missed chances to make themselves comfortable in a game where they showed much the better attacking threat.

He added: “We were just lacking that cutting edge but I told the lads to maintain what they were doing and the goal would come, which it did.

“We also showed resilience to defend the box tremendously after we got the goal.”

Doncaster boss Gary McSheffrey was frustrated with a lack of bravery from his side as they slumped to another damaging defeat in the fight against relegation.

He said: “You need a group that has got that self-belief and character and we’re lacking that and not showing it at the minute.

“Players need to step up, make things happen and be braver. The key word today was courage.

“As a centre-half you can put your head on things and that’s great.

“But the biggest bravery in the game is having the courage to take the ball in areas where it’s probably not comfortable but you need to be an option for a team-mate.

“I think too many of them were shirking responsibility of being the one to make things happen.

“The punters come, they work hard and they come here wanting to watch a good game of football and be entertained.

“I told the players they need to get them off their seats. Once they see you working with the required work-rate and passion, they will come with you.

“But there wasn’t enough individuals who grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and wanted to be that one.”