Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton hits out at 'fool' Fleetwood chairman Andy Pilley over sacking
- Planet Sport writer
- 10 April 2023
Joey Barton admitted getting one over on his former club Fleetwood was extra sweet after Bristol Rovers came from behind to record a 2-1 away win.
Lewis Gibson cancelled out Jayden Stockley's opener with a scrambled equaliser after goalkeeper Jay Lynch fumbled a shot, and Gavin Ward scored with a cross into the box that bypassed everyone and sailed in.
And Barton, sacked as manager by Fleetwood chairman Andy Pilley in January 2021, could not help but smile at overseeing Rovers' victory on his old turf.
"Is there added satisfaction coming here and winning? Yeah, absolutely," he said.
"He was a fool to sack me and you can see from the style of football the way the club's gone since.
"To be fair to Scott (Brown) he's turned it round with a good cup run and he's picked them up in the table and it's taken a bit of time.
"But my mind goes to winning the game. I want to beat my children at Connect 4 or tiddlywinks, I don't give anyone an inch, in anything.
"It added a bit of spice coming back here. It's sweet to beat your former club but I'll take three points anywhere, from anyone.
"I thought we were unfortunate to go in at half time behind. They are a set-play team and we didn't think it was a corner but we didn't defend the second phase of it, so that was disappointing.
"That's all they really had, long balls into Stockley and second-phase or set-pieces.
"We told the boys at half-time to just settle down and we got more penetration through the middle. We just tweaked it a little bit and I thought we were good value for the win."