Joey Barton backs Barrie McKay to be Fleetwood Town’s magic man

Barrie McKay celebrates his first Fleetwood Town goal which was so nearly the winner at Sunderland

The winger, on loan from Swansea City, scored his first Fleetwood goal in his fifth appearance during Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Sunderland.

Head coach Barton wants the 25-year-old Scot to see more of the ball in Town’s final 12 League One games as they bid to reclaim a place in the play-off zone – or perhaps climb even higher.

Barton said: “Baz is starting to get near to peak fitness, so we have to be careful how we police him through this busy period.

“He showed in flashes something we’ve really lacked, somebody who can open the door against the better sides, because when we come to places like Sunderland you need a magician.

“We don’t think we utilised him enough in the first period and we challenged the lads at half-time to pass the ball into him more.

“Against the teams in and around us, the more we can get Baz on the ball the more likely he is to unlock a defence and make something happen.

“It’s always nice to have someone who gets fans off their seats and we’ve really lacked that since Ash Hunter went out on loan.

“We were getting that with Hunter off the bench but we’ve lacked that from the start of games and Baz has been that real breath of fresh air.”

Barton is, however, adamant that his team’s rise into promotion contention is not down to one individual but to a club culture.

He added: “The best days are in front of us and we are just going to keep on getting better and better.

“It’s an exciting time to be a coach. Every single person has worked tirelessly and everybody has improved. It’s delightful to see that.

“I might never get this lucky as a manager again. I might never get such total commitment from a group.

“It’s a culture at Fleetwood Town and we’ll see where that takes us.

“We’ve been successful already this season just to be in contention.

“We go into the last stretch with everything to play for.

“We shouldn’t be at the final table with our budget but we have a chance of taking all the chips off the table.

“We nearly landed a massive blow on a team (Sunderland) that will be there or thereabouts, no doubt about it. But they know we are a real team.”