DPL v Fleetwood Town

My only knowledge of Fleetwood is derived from one visit there and I remember what looked like an old dock modernised into retail etc units at the top end of the Blackpool seafront. It was in that vicinity where for some reason I have always imagined as the approximate location of the football ground. But on referring to Google Earth I realise that I am totally wrong and its actual situation is somewhat inland of the sea and perhaps not quite the cold and windswept place in my imagination. I also learned that the old fishing dock is some distance away too, around the corner on the Wyre estuary.

There was some notoriety associated with the owner of the club, an owner who (because of the poor support) seemed to be their main source of funds. In fact he (Andy Pilley) was gaoled in 2023 for fraud and recently the club was taken over by his son Jamie Pilley. They came down from L1 in May 2024 and considering what they’ve been through you would not expect them to be doing as well as they are pulling out of a crisis, but they always seem to do better than you’d expect. The manager is Charlie Adam, who you might remember as the man Richie Wellens clashed with when he was playing for Blackpool against Rovers. Adam got sent off, but RW stayed on.

The associations in my memory with Fleetwood then, remain rather miserable and have increased in their intensity by Rovers regular unsuccessful visits.

Even if form suggests we ought to be bringing something back (and their current form does suggest this) we have not done so. In fact the best we’ve done and done more than once there is 0-0, but when we’ve lost it has been 1-3 more often than not.

We do seem to be in a bit of a rut at the moment with Molyneux somewhat off form, Sharp and Ironside not really clicking, the midfield erratic and constantly changing, and only the defence seemingly reliable. So although we might be expected to do better than we have in the past, given our away form, I’m am tempted to give way to my negative emotions and say 3-0 to them, but I’ll be relatively positive and say 1-1 (Sharp, Clifton, Ironside, Gibson). Hopefully one of these will start!