Stephen Crainey confident of survival after Fleetwood draw with Lincoln

Fleetwood manager Stephen Crainey says he is “really confident” his side can stave off relegation from League One after they made it three matches unbeaten with a 1-1 draw against Lincoln.

Dan Batty marked his first start for Fleetwood since February with the opening goal, producing a stunning strike from 25 yards just after the half-hour mark.

Lincoln fought back in the second half and equalised in the 64th minute when Lewis Fiorini drove a low effort past Alex Cairns after a well-worked move.

Fleetwood remain in 19th place but are now just one point clear of the relegation zone following Morecambe’s win over Oxford.

They do have a game in hand on all five sides below them, however, and Crainey believes his team has what it takes to beat the drop.

“I’m really confident we’re going to stay up but we need to go and earn the right to do that,” the Scot said.

“The way the lads have applied themselves makes me think even more that we are going to do it.

“In terms of their application and attitude the group have been really good so we need to win games of football and I’m sure we can do that.”

Fleetwood arguably went closest to getting the winner when Zak Jules’ header was cleared off the line by Conor McGrandles but the home side had to settle for a point, making it five from the last nine available having previously drawn with Doncaster and beaten Crewe.

“I thought it was a game of two halves,” Crainey added.

“I thought the first 45 minutes we were really, really good.

“We showed real energy in the game, were really aggressive in our defending, and got right on the front foot.

“And in the second half, I knew we were going to get a reaction – I said to the lads at half-time we were going to get a reaction from Lincoln – and that’s what Lincoln did and I thought we struggled a little bit to get a foothold in the game in the second half.”

Lincoln are still in 18th position, eight points clear of Fleetwood having played a game more.

Manager Michael Appleton was not impressed with his team’s first-half display but thought they were much improved following a heated half-time team talk.

“I think there was a bit of control to it (the team talk), to be fair,” he said.

“There’s no point ranting for the sake of ranting. There was information they needed that would help them in the second half.

“But I was ready to go to war with two or three of my own players, never mind the opposition.”