Cod Army back on course

Fleetwood got their League Two promotion bid back on track with a 3-1 victory over struggling Bristol Rovers.

The Cod Army had lost 3-0 at Exeter at the weekend, yet Antoni Sarcevic, Mark Roberts and David Ball were all on target in a comfortable win. A first half lacking in quality from either side was brought to life thanks to a mistake from Rovers captain Tom Parkes. He could not get his foot on Iain Hume's pass and the ball squirmed into the path of Sarcevic, the Fleetwood midfielder only too happy to drive it past goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall. That advantage was doubled before the break, Roberts flicking the ball in with his head to turn a Josh Morris corner home. And within six minutes of the restart the home side were out of reach. Hume put in an inch-perfect cross-field pass to pick out Charlie Taylor and with Rovers all over the place at the back, Ball took advantage. Nathan Pond and Roberts both came close to adding a fourth, Parkes clearing off the line to spare the Pirates' blushes. There was less clinical finishing at the other end where Matt Harrold did all the hard work to get behind the hosts only to blaze wide. They did pull one back late on, though, when substitute Ellis Harrison headed in a Lee Brown corner. Home goalkeeper Chris Maxwell then pulled off a superb reflex save in added time to prevent a grandstand finale.