Charlie Adam’s first home game in charge of Fleetwood ended with a 3-1 defeat to promotion-chasing Derby.

The former Scotland international has lost his first two matches, after defeat by the same scoreline at Shrewsbury on New Year’s Day, with his bottom side now winless in nine league games.

Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and James Collins did the majority of the damage in the first-half at Highbury.

Jayden Stockley pulled one back but Tom Barkhuizen sealed a vital three points in County’s promotion push in stoppage time.

Josh Earl squandered a great early chance for the hosts when he nodded wide.

Winger Mendez-Laing used his pace to get in behind and neatly slot home the opener in the 27th minute.

He almost made it two minutes later as he fired wide before Collins bagged a 16th goal of the season with a glancing header from Conor Hourihane’s corner at the near post.

After a poor spell, Stockley gave the hosts a glimmer as he converted Shaun Rooney’s deadly cross with 15 minutes to go.

But Barkhuizen sealed a fifth straight away win for the Rams with his late strike.

Ian Evatt hailed Bolton’s “best victory of the season” as they saw off Fleetwood on a windswept night on the Lancashire coast.

Dion Charles and Victor Adeboyejo scored in the second half to leave Wanderers just two points behind League One leaders Portsmouth.

Evatt told Wanderers TV: “That was a proper performance, I’m so pleased with that.

“For me, the best victory of the season in the circumstances – the weather, the storm, the wind, the pitch was all against us really, but I thought we were just so professional.

“I think we dominated both halves really, with the wind and against it. Obviously disappointed not to score in the first half but stayed calm, stayed composed and did the business in the second half.”

Charles opened the scoring four minutes after half-time with his 12th goal of the league season and stepped over Kyle Dempsey’s pass for Adeboyejo to hammer in a late second.

“Great time to score,” said Evatt of the first goal. “I’m delighted for Dion, who I thought was excellent tonight, and then a bit of magic from Dion again with the ‘over’ for the second one for Victor.

“As away performances go, that’s a proper performance.”

Lee Johnson rued individual errors which meant an otherwise impressive battling display from his Fleetwood side went unrewarded.

“It was a tough game,” he said. “We knew the quality Bolton have – they’re a well established side in the division that’s had time to build, and an ex-Premier League club.

“But we felt, genuinely, at half-time that we had a good chance in this game. We defended ever so well in treacherous conditions, the spirit was good, the blocking was good.

“We’re not affecting boxes anywhere near enough, we know that, and we have to because wins are very important.

“You have to give credit to Bolton but again we’re masters of our own downfall with individual errors and that seems like the story of almost the calendar year. If we want to get out of trouble, they’re the bits we have to stop.

“We had 15 players, for various reasons, unavailable for this game and it’s difficult for a club like us.

“We’re not throwing the towel in, I’m well up for the fight. We’ve got 23 games now in which we need a number of wins.

“The first thing we’ve got to stop is the individual errors because there was a clean sheet in that game, and that’s what’s frustrating.”

Second-half goals from Dion Charles and Victor Adeboyejo gave Bolton a well-deserved 2-0 win at Fleetwood.

The visitors dominated throughout in atrocious conditions on the coast but had to wait until the 49th minute to lead, then seeing out the victory with little resistance and sealing it with a late goal from Adeboyejo.

Title challengers Bolton made all the running in the first half but failed to turn their dominance into goals.

Jon Dadi Bodvarsson went closest as half-time loomed but his reaction finish from Charles’ cross cannoned back off the post at close range.

The Iceland striker had also been inches away from turning home when Fleetwood keeper Jay Lynch parried Randell Williams’ shot.

Bolton did have the ball in the net after 25 minutes, Charles sliding in a cross from Josh Dacres-Cogley, but the offside flag cut short their celebrations.

Fleetwood, second bottom and without a league win since early November, offered little going forward with a weak shot from Phoenix Patterson, easily collected by Nathan Baxter, their only effort on goal.

It took Wanderers just four minutes of the second half to finally edge ahead. The ball fell to Charles in the Town box and his shot took a cruel deflection off Josh Earl, wrong-footing Lynch.

Substitute Adeboyejo doubled Bolton’s lead after 83 minutes. Charles stepped over Kyle Dempsey’s pass and Adeboyejo, who hit a hat-trick in their home win against Fleetwood in August, duly hammered in the second.

Paul Simpson insisted there was plenty of time for Carlisle to stave off the threat of relegation following the 1-1 draw at Fleetwood.

The Cumbrians led through Owen Moxon’s goal after 27 minutes but were pegged back eight minutes later by a Jayden Stockley strike.

And while the point did not prevent Simpson’s side from slipping to the bottom of the table, he will not be pushing the panic button.

“It’s not pleasant,” he said.

“We’re in a tough position at the moment and we’ve dropped to the bottom of the league today, which nobody wants to see.

“Thankfully we’ve got lots of games to try to turn it around, we’ve got the January transfer window to try to strengthen the group and hopefully we’ll be able to do that.

“We’ve got to improve the squad and we’ve got to improve our consistency when we’re making opportunities.

“We were massively improved from the last game, without a doubt.

“I think we probably deserved more than just one point out of the game today as well so that’s a bit of a disappointment, but I’m really satisfied with the way that the players have gone about it, particularly a young starting XI.

“They gave us energy, they had a real desire about them, it’s just a pity we didn’t manage to finish off those chances we had.

“It’s a huge improvement after the last game. I thought we passed the ball quite well on what was a tricky surface, but at least it was a nice calm day today.

“We worked and competed well, we did all of the things that we would want to do, we got ourselves in the lead and I’m disappointed with the goal we conceded, we could have worked harder to stop it coming in.”

Fleetwood also slipped a place to sit second from bottom and manager Lee Johnson also feels their fortunes should improve when they welcome back some of their walking wounded.

“The boys are working hard,” he said.

“The last game at Portsmouth was a sapping game in terms of the energy levels, I thought it was a low-quality game today, if I’m honest.

“We let them off the hook far too many times when we had set-play opportunities, when we got into wide areas we demanded more from our wide men and a little bit changed.

“We have to be honest and say we lacked quality at times but we’re asking the same set of lads to churn it out at the moment when we’ve got so many injured.

“We’re hobbling into January but it’s important that we quickly refresh again.

“We just need more players to turn up, we need more to get back to their top form, some are nursing little niggles but they will have to keep getting out there because it’s all we’ve got.

“It’s going to be a really big January for us, I have a points target in my head, I’ll keep that to myself but it’s achievable.

“It’s going to be tight. In the next few weeks we’re going to have to nurse players back to health. I feel like in five or six weeks we could be in a good spot.”

Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson felt his side should have been more ruthless following the 1-0 victory over struggling Fleetwood at Highbury Stadium.

A goal from Archie Collins just before the break proved to be the difference as Ferguson’s side made it five League One games without defeat.

In a first half that was dominated by the visitors, United had plenty of chances to take the lead with Ricky-Jade Jones and Kwame Poku coming close in the opening moments.

But Peterborough eventually broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute when Collins’ long-range effort deflected past Fleetwood goalkeeper Jay Lynch before nestling in the bottom corner.

Posh could have extended their lead in the second half when Lynch brilliantly stopped Jones’ close-range header while Posh goalkeeper Nicholas Bilokapic denied Ben Heneghan in the dying moments as the home side almost grabbed an unlikely equaliser.

Peterborough are now in the League One automatic-promotion places after four wins in their last five.

Ferguson said: “It should have been at least three after 10 minutes but it wasn’t. We started the game how I wanted us to with the authority we’ve got.

“But we’ve just got to be more ruthless, we’ve blown teams away at times but away from home against a team that’s not in form, if we get that second goal it kills the game.

“It wasn’t comfortable at the end and, ultimately, we’re hanging on in a game that should have been very comfortable.

“It was a good game to watch, I just wish we could have been more ruthless, but it’s another win and another clean sheet.

“The clean sheets are going to be key and if we can keep clean sheets like we have been then we’re going to have a bit of a chance.

“You’ve got to come to these places and beat what’s in front of you and today we did that.”

Defeat was Fleetwood’s sixth in a row in all competitions and they have not found the net in almost 10 hours of football.

Manager Lee Johnson said: “I think it’s been a massive effort to get that performance.

“I thought we rode our luck a little bit in the first 15 or 20 minutes but I think we did OK.

“I thought we defended OK and worked really hard and we went 4-4-2 to try and be more positive in the game.

“We had two golden chances really, in the first half with Josh Earl and then with Ben Heneghan at the end.

“We weren’t without chances and it’s another game where we haven’t scored and another game that we’ve conceded.

“On a positive note, I thought it was excellent to see how many of our academy players were in and around the first-team squad today and that’s nice to see.

“But we can’t be victims and we have to be fighters. We’ve got to get through January and we’ve got to get through this season and then I’m certain that this time next year the complexity of the league position changes.”

Three goals in six first-half minutes set Cambridge on the way to a dominant 4-0 win over Fleetwood as they booked a place in the third round of the FA Cup.

The U’s, with Barry Corr in caretaker charge following the sacking of manager Mark Bonner on Wednesday, never looked back after Danny Andrew opened the scoring in the seventh minute.

Andrew curled in a free kick from 22 yards, awarded after Elias Kachunga had been fouled by Bosun Lawal.

Four minutes later Kachunga was on the scoresheet himself, netting from close range after Sullay Kaikai’s shot had hit the post.

In the 13th minute, Kaikai set up Fejiri Okenabirhie who ran clear and finished confidently.

Brendan Wiredu put Fleetwood’s best chance wide from close range before the U’s missed a penalty in the 29th minute. Gassan Ahadme’s tame effort from the spot was easily saved by Stephen McMullan after a foul on the lively Kaikai by Lawal.

Ahadme made amends in the second half, converting Paul Digby’s 83rd-minute cross to complete the scoring

Goals from Jamie Reid, Ben Thompson and Elliott List earned Stevenage a 3-0 win at Fleetwood.

Reid scored his fifth in his last four games to give the visitors a half-time lead and second-half efforts from Thompson and List helped settle the first ever meeting between the two sides.

Reid hit home a crisp opener in the eighth minute after Carl Piergianni won a header on the edge of the box and Jordan Roberts played the ball across goal.

Fleetwood had half-chances to draw level before the break, but Danny Mayor sent a shot straight at goalkeeper Taye Ashby-Hammond.

Jack Marriott could not capitalise on two chances in quick succession, seeing his first shot blocked and a second effort clear the bar.

In added time at the end of the first half Ashby-Hammond’s miscued punch from a corner found Shaun Rooney, but his wild finish flew yards over.

The hosts showed signs of life early in the second period and Phoenix Patterson crashed an effort against the crossbar.

In the 56th minute Kane Hemmings capitalised on a slip by defender Bosun Lawal to set up Thompson and he netted his first for the club.

Fleetwood pushed forward as they sought a way back into the match, but, with Mayor also hitting the bar late on, it was clear it was not to be their day.

And List completed Stevenage’s impressive victory with a breakaway goal in stoppage time.

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell admits he is looking forward to an international break after witnessing his side’s 3-0 defeat at Fleetwood.

The visitors shipped three goals in a disastrous first half, never really looked like salvaging anything from their long trip north and left the field to a chorus of boos from their travelling fans.

Caldwell held his hands up and is prepared to carry the can for his team, who have not tasted victory in Sky Bet League One since mid-September.

“We gave ourselves a mountain to climb and although we improved in the second half we were 3-0 down so that was the least you’d expect,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to do and we need to stand up and be counted, but at this moment in time we’re not doing that.

“Ultimately I pick the team and I have to take responsibility for that. We have a bit of respite now with the international break and we can do a lot of work on the training ground because so many things need to be better.

“I understand that the fans are frustrated, we’re all frustrated. They come a long way to watch us and in the first half that wasn’t good enough. They are well within their rights to boo and criticise and we all have to work hard on the training pitch to change that momentum at the moment.

“The window doesn’t open until January and then we will look at it so we have to work with the players we’ve got, and they were fantastic early season.

“We have a few injuries that we have to get back but as individuals we have to look at ourselves and be better.”

Fleetwood boss Lee Johnson admitted things could hardly have gone better for his team in that first period, when Ryan Broom, Brendan Wiredu and Phoenix Patterson all found the net.

Patterson’s strike came after he had been sent tumbling in the box by Pierce Sweeney, referee Thomas Kirk awarding a free-kick just outside.

Patterson sent it perfectly into the near corner, leaving Johnson delighted with his young winger.

“Phoenix has been on it for the last two or three weeks,” he said. “He’s had to ‘unlearn’ some things, I wasn’t fully happy with his application, not in terms of his effort, work rate and professionalism, but his attitude to turn and drive at people, and I say that lovingly because I know how good he is.

“He’s got a great centre of gravity, a great end product and a little shift of pace and dynamism in the final third and he’s got real quality. If he was timid like I’d seen earlier in my tenure it wasn’t enough, but he’s deserved his chance and he’s taken it, he’s been excellent.

“It was a very satisfying win, I thought the first half in particular was excellent, we had a 15-minute spell where we stopped working hard early enough but we could have been 5-0 up at half-time, I think that would have probably been a fair assessment of the first half.

“Key for us is that we know what good looks like now and we know when we’re not playing well what that looks like as well and that allows the players to self-coach and manage each other, so I was really pleased to see that. It’s a really positive sign for us.

“As a general rule we feel like we’re going in the right direction.”

A dominant first-half performance saw Fleetwood stroll to a 3-0 Sky Bet League One win at home to struggling Exeter.

Ryan Broom, Brendan Wiredu and Phoenix Patterson gave the hosts a three-goal half-time lead and Exeter, without a league win since mid-September, never looked likely to turn their fortunes around.

Broom opened the scoring in the sixth minute. Danny Mayor split the defence with his through ball into Broom’s path and he coolly slipped the ball under Viljami Sinisalo.

The goalkeeper did well to keep his side in the game moments later, denying Promise Omochere at close range from Broom’s cross, and recovering well to parry Mayor’s follow-up effort.

He could do nothing to prevent the Cod Army’s second goal shortly after the half-hour mark, however. Patterson’s corner fell perfectly for Wiredu, who was unmarked just three yards out, and had a simple task to nod in number two.

Fleetwood felt they should have had a penalty when Exeter right-back Pierce Sweeney brought Patterson down minutes before the break. Referee Thomas Kirk awarded a free-kick a foot outside the corner of the penalty area.

Undeterred, Patterson sent a fine dead-ball effort over the wall and just inside the near post.

The Grecians showed signs of life early in the second half but Jay Lynch saved from Zak Jules, with Yanic Wildschut seeing his follow-up deflected wide while Ilmari Niskanen was off-target with his chance.

But any faint hopes of a comeback soon fizzled out and, with Fleetwood rarely troubled, they eased to victory.

Victorious Fleetwood manager Lee Johnson challenged his players to use their FA Cup exploits as a springboard after beating Kidderminster 2-1 at Aggborough.

Headers from Josh Earl and Shaun Rooney either side of the break were enough for the Cod Army to dump the National League strugglers out of the competition, cancelling out Bailey Hobson’s side-footed opener.

Overcoming adversity in front of a vocal home crowd, Johnson admired the courage of his players at the final whistle.

“We had four golden chances and my criticism is not punishing them and putting the sword through,” he said.

“I was very pleased with the players, particularly after they scored because giving up a goal against a side like this where it’s really important for them to do well in the cup, it gives them something to get hold of.

“We weren’t scoring a lot, now we look like we’re doing that but we’ve got to be ruthless and be killers in front of goal.

“It’s a competition that I really want to do well in and to achieve success, because I think it can be a catalyst to push us on as a football club.”

For Harriers boss Russell Penn on the receiving end of the result, plenty of heart can also be taken, he feels.

“We’re really disappointed with the timings of the goals, because in an FA Cup game you have to have that momentum going into half-time when we’ve scored so late,” he said.

“The whole place was flattened by the second goal and it’s so hard to pin it back especially against better opposition.

“We could’ve been at our absolute best today and still lost the game, and we have to respect that.”

Blackpool boss Neil Critchley was left frustrated after his side were forced to settle for a 3-3 draw in a thrilling Lancashire derby against Fleetwood.

Sonny Carey’s brilliant brace cancelled out early goals from Promise Omochere and Jack Marriott.

Shayne Lavery seemingly secured the bragging points for the Seasiders, but Marriott popped up with a dramatic last-gasp equaliser.

Critchley said: “It’s really difficult to know where to start because there are so many incidents in the game.

“My overriding feeling is that it’s two points dropped and it’s a game we should have won.

“I don’t know how many shots at goal we had, or chances that we created but it’s numerous and as the away team.

“At 3-2 we’ve got ourselves into a winning position after giving ourselves a mountain to climb first half.

“It’s a game we should see out. Even when they equalise we’ve still almost gone on to win the game.

“It’s a difficult one to sum up. We created chances. We constantly got into the final third in the first half and failed.

“We conceded two really poor goals, but if we keep conceding twos and threes it’s going to be difficult to win games of football.”

The Cod Army made a fast start and looked set to land a first Lancashire derby win for five years.

But they eventually had to come from behind to earn a point.

Boss Lee Johnson said: “The boys are disappointed and I’m disappointed.

“Ben Heneghan, to give an example, had told the lads we should have had nine points this week and instead we’ve got five, which is not a disaster.

“We’ve started a bit of an unbeaten run, but we need to deal with oppositions’ spells better.

“I thought there was a lot of character on the pitch, from both teams. And the fans really made it that derby atmosphere, and I love that.

“I want to see that against Exeter when we play them at home. We can create that with our spirit on the pitch and our spirit off the pitch.

“The spell that we conceded three goals, you ask whether they were fantastic or if we were poor. We felt we should have defended those much better.

“They threw caution to the wind, they had bright, busy players but we should have dealt with it better. We can coach it.

“We’ve started to score goals regularly which is really positive. It’s a sign that we’re improving, but it’s a sign we can’t get ahead of ourselves at anytime in any match and we need to stay focused.”

Jack Marriott salvaged Fleetwood a dramatic late point in a six-goal Lancashire derby thriller at Highbury.

The Cod Army looked set to secure bragging rights against their neighbours for the first time in five years after a quick-fire first-half burst.

Blackpool had a great early chance when Jordan Rhodes’ strike rattled the crossbar after just six minutes.

Promise Omochere opened the scoring for the hosts after 13 minutes after he was left in plenty of space to pick his spot.

And Lee Johnson’s side doubled their lead five minutes later as the Seasiders made a mess of clearing a corner, with Marriott poking home the rebound.

Blackpool goalkeeper Daniel Grimshaw kept the deficit at just the two when he kept out Shaun Rooney with his feet.

Sonny Carey turned the game on its head with a three-minute brace early in the second half.

The 22-year-old, who opened his league account for the season last time out, curled home a nice strike in the 48th minute before quickly firing in a second effort from the edge of the box.

Shayne Lavery completed the turnaround in the 65th minute after being played through by Rhodes.

But Marriott’s stunning 90th-minute strike secured a precious point for the strugglers.

Barnsley head coach Neill Collins applauded the resilience of his side as they came from behind twice to earn a 2-2 draw against travelling Fleetwood.

Devante Cole and Corey O’Keefe provided equalisers for the Tykes after a first-half double from Junior Quitirna.

Collins said: “Today I think it was a winning performance, you look across the season it’s one of our most dominant performances.

“We created loads of chances, created lots of opportunities to create more chances but we obviously shot ourselves slightly in the foot by giving away a really cheap goal and then losing a very good goal from their perspective.

“I think what the fans should be happy with is that we came from behind twice. That’s the first equaliser here (at Oakwell) since the Championship season so I think that shows that we’re building on that resilience and ability to come back.”

On his side equalising twice, Collins said: “It’s a match-winning performance. We’ve had ones that have been much more even and we’ve been very ruthless with our chances and quality.

“Today we probably should’ve got three points and didn’t and there’ve maybe been other games where it could easily have been a draw and we did get that goal.”

On his side receiving two home penalties in as many games after not being awarded one since March 2021, Collins said: “A team that plays on the front foot the way we want to should create opportunities and I’ve not seen it back but it looked like a penalty at the time.”

Fleetwood manager Lee Johnson said: “I’m disappointed in not taking the three points and disappointed, if I’m honest, in the team’s performance.

“We’ve got really good footballers and we forgot to play today and that was what really frustrated me.

“For 35 minutes, 40 minutes; I thought we played and were outstanding and then all of a sudden, we dropped off, we kept giving the ball away. Then it became a defensive, attack versus defence drill in my view.

“We need to believe in ourselves a little bit more in possession because we’ve got some really good footballers there.”

On his side surrendering their lead twice, Johnson said: “We didn’t have enough quality, controlled possession. My game, my philosophy and our game is about control and how many scenarios and situations can we control in and out of possession.

“We didn’t control enough today because we gave the ball away too much.”

On the performance of Quitirna, Johnson said: “Fantastic, we’ve really enjoyed working with him so far, he’s showed a great attitude.

“We’ll have to see how his hamstring is, he felt a tightness there. That’ll be a big loss to us if he’s not fit; I’m delighted with him.”

Matt Bloomfield hailed his side’s summer signings after Wycombe hammered struggling Fleetwood 4-1.

All four goals were scored by new-season arrivals as the visitors blew away Lee Johnson’s side at Highbury.

Dale Taylor, on loan from Nottingham Forest, bagged a brace, whilst Freddie Potts and Luke Leahy also got in on the act against the 10-man hosts.

Jack Marriott scored a mere consolation moments before Ben Heneghan’s sending off for chopping down Brandon Hanlan.

“I really hope this is a sign of things to come,” beamed Bloomfield.

“It was a very good performance. I’ve felt like it’s been coming away from home.

“We spoke about how proud we were of the second-half performance at Charlton.

“I feel like this has been building and I’m really proud with how the boys brushed off our defeat in midweek and reacted the way they did.

“I’m really pleased the summer signings are gelling. We freshened that forward line up and we’re really pleased that squad’s coming together.

“I’ve been really conscious to emphasise it’s not all about the new signings and we already had top players already at the club.

“There’s two thank yous I really need to make sure I make. First is for the supporters who have travelled all this way, it’s a long way to come.

“The second thank you is to Rob (Couhig, owner) because he’s put his hand in his pocket for us to come up and stay Thursday night.

“I really feel like having that social time to bond has really helped us. He didn’t have to offer that.”

Johnson was brought in to replace Scott Brown after the ex Celtic midfielder was sacked due to Town’s terrible start to the season.

The Cod Army came into this game off the back of successive victories without conceding.

But after being blown away, Johnson said: “That was a big lesson for us. I’m disappointed if I’m honest with you.

“The risk was a third game in the week. The physical and mental question was whether we could produce again.

“Suddenly we started to have that belief in ourselves, but that was completely powder puff in the first half.

“We made so many poor decisions which were based on that level of fatigue. That’s not an excuse.

“The attitude and belief was the bit that was so disappointing for me. In terms of the body language, that’s been good over the last two games.

“It’s about having that will and skill on a regular basis. It’s a humbling loss for us and we’ve got to go back to the drawing board.

“The players have got to stake a claim again.

“We’ve got a real chance of being successful here. We’ve actually got enough in that dressing room. But what we haven’t got is a strong enough mindset at this moment in time.”

Wycombe secured their first home win for over a month with a convincing 4-1 victory at struggling Fleetwood.

Lee Johnson, who took over from Scott Brown last month, had led the Cod Army to back-to-back wins without conceding.

But they were completely blown away by the on-song Chairboys as Dale Taylor’s double, Freddie Potts and Luke Leahy secured victory at Highbury.

Jack Marriott’s effort was a mere consolation before the hosts’ day was compounded by Ben Heneghan’s second-half sending off.

Northern Irish striker Taylor opened the scoring with a looping header from the edge of the six-yard box from Josh Scowen’s cross in the 20th minute.

Potts doubled the advantage with his second goal for the club with a fine touch and finish, completing a great team move, 14 minutes later.

It was three before the break as Potts turned provider for Taylor to slot home.

Marriott pulled one back as he diverted home Junior Quitirna’s cross.

But any hopes of a miracle comeback were dashed moments later when Heneghan tripped Brandon Hanlan who was racing through.

Leahy added gloss from the resulting free-kick as he bent it into the top corner.