League One round-up: Joey Barton reveals the changes he made with Sunderland in mind as Peterborough boss slams slow start

The Cod Army beat Plymouth 5-1 on Saturday, with four of the goals coming before the hour mark.

That allowed Barton to withdraw the likes of Paddy Madden, Jordan Rossiter and Josh Morris with plenty of time still on the clock – giving them some rest ahead of the visit of the Black Cats next week.

“There was a lot of pleasing aspects of our game as we watched on from the side-line, it’s very, very rare in this division to have the ability after 60 minutes to think about the next game as we welcome Sunderland to Highbury next Friday,” said the Fleetwood side.

“I spoke to our lads before the game and I said if we reach the standard of our performance that we demand from ourselves it’s going to be very, very tough for sides in our division to stay with that where that was proven today.”

Meanwhile, Peterborough United boss Darren Ferguson has slammed his side’s slow start as they fell to defeat against a resurgent Blackpool.

Jerry Yates handed Pool the lead as Posh struggled to get going on home soil.

Ferguson’s side looked to have snatched a point at the death through Frankie Kent, only for Gary Madine to bag a stoppage time winner.

And Ferguson says his side cannot afford such lacklustre starts m

But Blackpool showed great determination to go again, eventually winning the game in the final minute of normal time courtesy of Gary Madine's calm finish.

“We lost the game in the first 30 minutes,” Ferguson told the Peterborough Telegraph.

“They would have expected a hard game, but instead they’ve had six shots in the first 20 minutes and taken the lead. They were now fancying it.

"It’s been a theme of our season, but we’ve generally got away it. That was never going to last. You can’t keep coming back into games. We need to start more aggressively and I will pick a team on Tuesday that reflects that.”

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