WITH GLENN WHELAN contributing a man-of-the-match performance in midfield, Fleetwood Town boosted their promotion hopes with a big win on Saturday.
Joey Barton’s side are now just two points adrift of a play-off place following their 2-1 victory against League One’s most in-form side.
Fourth-placed Peterborough United were aiming for a seventh win on the trot, but they came up short against a Fleetwood outfit who also find themselves in a rich vein of form.
Fleetwood, who hadn’t won in the six games prior to Whelan’s arrival last month, have yet to taste defeat in the six games they’ve played with the veteran Irishman in the team.
They have jumped from 11th to eighth place in the table since signing the 36-year-old Dubliner, who had been a free agent as a result of his premature and somewhat acrimonious departure from struggling Scottish Premiership club Hearts.
Saturday’s win was their fourth in succession. An extension of that run at home to fellow promotion chasers Portsmouth this Saturday could be enough to push the Lancashire club into the play-off spots.
Liam Lawrence, who played alongside Whelan for Stoke City and the Republic of Ireland, spoke about his former team-mate’s impact while appearing as a pundit on Quest TV’s EFL highlights programme over the weekend.
“He’s one of the most professional footballers that I’ve played with – his character, how he trains, how he plays, how he prepares,” Lawrence said. “He’ll have a big influence on that dressing room and the people around him, especially the youngsters.”
Fleetwood, whose leading goalscorer is Irish striker Paddy Madden, have never reached the heights of the Championship. The club, whose Highbury home ground holds just over 5,000 spectators, were promoted to the Football League for the first time in 2012.
Whelan has experience of promotion from League One from his time at Sheffield Wednesday, with whom he tasted play-off success back in 2005.
Before making his Fleetwood debut on 25 January, Whelan hadn’t played a game in five weeks. However, he has not missed a minute of action yet for his new club.
Despite dropping down to the third tier of English football, Whelan looks likely to retain his place in the Republic of Ireland team for next month’s Euro 2020 play-off against Slovakia.
“Glenn, for me, who has been probably the star man in three or four of our games, he has the edge on those, without any doubt,” Ireland manager Mick McCarthy said last week when asked about the selection prospects of players like James McCarthy, Jayson Molumby and Jason Knight.
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
