Saturday was one of the most satisfying afternoons for some time at Highbury Stadium as Fleetwood Town recorded a convincing 5-1 victory over Swindon Town. It wasn’t just the scoreline or the fact that the three points took Town out of the bottom four once again. Rather, it was the manner of the performance: the most complete in manager Steve Pressley’s short time at the club.
Fleetwood Town 5-1 Swindon Town
It was a display which perfectly demonstrated the high intensity, fast on the counter ethic that Pressley has talked about over the last few weeks. Right-back Conor McLaughlin returned from international duty to add solidity to the defence and it was a firm platform with the assured presence of skipper Nathan Pond combining well in the middle with on-loan Joe Davis. On the left side, Amari’i Bell had his best game for Fleetwood yet and seems to be responding positively to Pressley’s direction.
The midfield three have worked tirelessly to execute the pressing game in recent games with Jimmy Ryan pivotal alongside Antoni Sarcevic and Icelandic international Eggert Jonsson. Pressley has been on the search for pace and seems to have found it with the arrival on loan of David Henen (Everton) and Tarique Fosu (Reading). Both were constant dangers and gave the Swindon defence a torrid time throughout, bringing the best out of the more experienced striker David Ball and giving reminders of the trouble caused by the pacey Jamie Vardy back in 2011-12. It was a delight to watch the two youngsters and both deserved their debut goals. Their substitutions heralded two of the most rousing receptions at Highbury for many a game.
Bobby Grant replaced Fosu and put the final nail in Swindon’s coffin with a terrific strike from distance into the top corner. It gave Town their second five-goal haul as a Football League club, the first being back in November 2013 when they defeated Mansfield 5-4. Sarcevic struck a hat-trick back then and penalties were scored in both games, yesterday’s after Ball had been brought down by the ‘keeper.
Every week is important through any football season but this one gives Town a chance to pull clear of danger. Millwall are at Highbury on Tuesday night and Saturday brings the long-awaited first league meeting between Fleetwood and nearest neighbours Blackpool who lost at the weekend. Saturday’s result from Highbury will have done nothing to ease the nerves around Bloomfield Road.
