Portsmouth Cup opponents Fleetwood have 'team leaked' to leave manager Joey Barton fuming

The Cod Army, who host the Blues in the Cup on Saturday, January 4, lost 3-1 at the Tangerines as their recent poor away form in League One continues.

However, Barton said he was at a disadvantage even before a ball was kicked by insisting opposite number Simon Grayson was made aware of his team and tactics going into the match.

SEE ALSO: Barton tells of online flak from Pompey fans as he reveals reason for cancelling game

As a result, the Fleetwood boss said he would conduct a review to determine the source of the information.

He told fleetwoodtoday.co.uk: ‘I know that he (Grayson) knew my team and my tactics on Wednesday, which is disappointing.

‘It is football, though, and I understand that people talk.

‘Sometimes there’s a bit of pillow talk between players and agents, and maybe people who are a bit disgruntled because they’re not in the side.

‘It’s disappointing when it happens in football because we’re usually a proper set of men, and in a proper group you don’t get that.

‘Clearly the fact that Simon and his players and staff had lots of details on what we were going to do is something we now need to get to the bottom of.

‘We’ll conduct our own internal stuff on that, on how or where that information was given to them.

‘It’s tough because I’m not the FBI. I’m just trying to pick a team to win a game, but that doesn’t take anything away from Blackpool and their victory.

‘I’m not going to use that as an excuse. We lost fairly and squarely, but I’ll be making sure we tighten our structures and make sure we’re a lot more clinical and efficient in what we do.’

Fleetwood dropped to ninth in the table following the loss but remain one point and a place above Pompey in the table.

Former Blues captain Sol Campbell was also irate on Saturday night, after he witnessed his Southend side throw away a 2-0 lead at Bristol Rovers.

The Shrimpers led 2-0 at the break but conceded four in the second half to lose 4-2 and remain in the relegation zone.

Campbell, who has one win in eight games in charge at Roots Hall, accused his players of ‘doing what they want’.

He told the Southend Echo: ‘It’s extremely difficult to take.

‘We had a fantastic first half but I told them at half-time the game wasn’t done.

‘We had to keep doing the same things but we didn’t.

‘Players weren’t getting back into position and not busting a gut.

‘They do what they want.

‘Maybe some of the players thought the game was done and finished.

‘You could understand it after 85 minutes but not 10 seconds into the second half.’

Other results: Bolton 2-2 AFC Wimbledon, Burton 0-2 Lincoln, Coventry 1-1 Ipswich, Doncaster Rovers 1-1 MK Dons, Gillingham 1-0 Sunderland, Oxford 0-0 Shrewsbury, Rotherham 0-1 Rochdale, Tranmere 1-1 Accrington.