Cod army no longer little fish

MIDFIELDER Jeff Hughes suggests some of Fleetwood’s players may be star-struck meeting teams like Saturday’s opposition, Athletic.

The ‘Cod Army’ were beaten only 1-0 at SportsDirect.com Park in their first-ever meeting earlier this season thanks to Jonathan Forte’s penalty, dubiously won in the eyes of Fleetwood manager Graham Alexander thanks to Danny Philliskirk going over in the box.

The minnows showed that day that they are no pushovers, having gained promotion to feature at this level in last season’s play-offs.

The experienced Hughes has proven to be an integral part in Alexander’s side, the former Bristol Rovers man (29) taking on the holding midfield role after recovering from a broken leg that kept him out of action for nine months.

He believes even the most starry-eyed player should hold no doubt about what it is achievable this season: “We have done well in establishing ourselves,” said Hughes. “But I think players still look at teams and think, ‘wow, we are playing them today’.

“It’s still fresh. We are looking at sides who were in the Premier League and it’s big for the lads.

“We are getting used to it now. We are playing better. We aren’t far away from being a really good team in this division.”

After a dip, Fleetwood have recovered to post some of their best results of the season.



SUPPORTERS should note that all 1,277 allocated tickets for the visitors’ section at Fleetwood are sold out.