Promise Osazee Omochere. Striker. A Fleetwood Town icon. The man with a red and white heart. The 6’2” bruiser from Dublin, but with the face of a gentle preacher. None of that gentleness Saturday. No tenderness for his old club. Just business. The way it has to be.
Throwing Fleetwood’s new left wing-back, Denver Hume, to the floor in the 41st minute. Ripping it up with ex-Arsenal 6’5” defender and giant, Zech Medley, who is fortunately back from injury for the new season, but underwent a torrid afternoon in the company of Omochere who could feasibly manhandle six crocodiles if he needed to.
The return of Promise was always going to be interesting. Who is he now? A man more sure of himself? A man with a £500,000 transfer tag set to carry that mantle with pride and responsibility?
During his final days here at Highbury in 2024, he was one of “only half a dozen players [who] stuck their head above the parapet on a consistent basis”. Those were dark days. Relegation from League One. And yet Promise blazed a trail most weeks. He linked up play. He threatened defences with his physical menace and occasional goal prowess. He body checked those around him like a Canadian ice hockey pro.
Prior to that, Promise had been part of a “spring-loaded gun” – that famous Fleetwood Town side which made it to Fifth Round of the FA Cup in 2023; him, Carlos Mendes Gomes (now of Bolton Wanderers) and Cian Hayes (Peterborough United) forming what was a dynamic three behind the front man.
So Promise can play, despite the wise-ass Twitter comments from some complaining that Bristol Rovers “got robbed” by paying a fee for him in 2024.
Saturday, fortunately, was about another number 9 though. Fleetwood’s new striker from National League side, Sutton United, Will Davies. Always a gamble knowing if players outside the top four tiers can make the step up to the real action, but Davies – albeit on the flimsy evidence of two league matches so far – seems to look the part.
Against Barnet, on the August 2, he was alert, fleet of foot and confident enough to stroke in an easy goal. Against Bristol Rovers, on the August 9, he made the difficult look sublime.
His first goal in the 26th minute – lovely control of the ball between flailing Gas defenders, number 4 Taylor Moore and number 2 Joel Senior, and a dink over advancing keeper Luke Southwood – was swagger personified. His second goal in the 34th minute was something extra special though – strength (to hold off Moore), control (neatly heading the ball down) and poise (a beautiful lob over the keeper).
Davies appears ridiculously at ease in League Two, as if the honour of working here is just plain old fun. He is quick and smart, with a keen eye for goal.
It is important to note where those goals came from though. What build up led to them. Goal one: Shaun Rooney, to Ryan Graydon, to Elliot Bonds, to Davies. Goal two: Rooney, to Graydon, to Harrison Neal, to Davies.
Fleetwood Town’s deadliness down the right on Saturday was both conspicuous and impressive. But then, in the second half, it was snuffed out.
Rooney, who does the simple things well – short passes, headers, avoiding fights – was steady, if a little overexcited and spiky at times. Graydon, always the tireless worker, was involved in both goals for a reason: his dedication to the cause is second to none. And now that he has, for the first time in a long long while, a grafter alongside him in Davies, things should start to flourish.
Captain Bonds was, for the most part in this game, his typical self – Fleetwood’s linchpin and leader, a man able to turn football into art. He does the difficult things gracefully. He spins away from his man. He toys with the ball as if it’s all too easy. He examines that round thing at his feet like it’s an old buddy, like a Puma football was perhaps in the maternity ward at his birth.
Bonds, upon his arrival at this club less than 14 months ago on a three-year deal, immediately made his presence felt. And he did something very few people do. He outshone Brendan Wiredu, Fleetwood’s timeless servant and former captain (now at Plymouth Argyle). Born four months apart, it is hard to believe that both are still just 25 years old.
In fact, all of Fleetwood’s midfield are pretty much babies: Neal (24), Mark Helm (23) and Bonds (25). This bodes well for the future with both Helm and Bonds tied down to 2027.
What of now though? What of this Jekyll and Hyde performance from Fleetwood missed, or certainly not commented on, by most BBC pundits (Lancashire and further afield)?
It could have turned out very differently had Bristol Rovers’ Sierra Leone midfielder, Kamil Conteh, pulled one back before the interval; a confident thunderbolt from the no.22 which flew over the right stanchion. In the second half, Neal tried to extend Fleetwood’s 2-0 lead with a canny, 20-yard left-footer down the keeper’s throat, but it was not to be.
Enter the 74th minute pantomime involving old favourite, Omochere, who seemed to twist his body and fall to the ground what seemed like a full second after defender James Bolton made innocuous contact, or perhaps more blatantly pulled the back of Promise’s shirt. A penalty? Not if you were in the ground hoping for smooth waters this season following Fleetwood’s tendency to chuck away games late on. But watching the video back – a penalty, yes, despite the normally reliable stalwart, Bolton.
Promise us it’s just the one goal, Promise. We need those home points. After all, if “last season’s games [had] ended in the 88th minute, we’d have 17 more points” head coach, Pete Wild, said after the Barnet opener.
Wild, with that anachronistic Last of the Summer Wine face. Wild, with his ‘Yes, yes, yeeees, COME ON!’ classic after-match celebration to the Highbury faithful in the Memorial Stand.
This is a man who has quickly developed an affinity with Fleetwood’s fan base. This is a man who, although the complete opposite of brief ‘messiah’ Joey Barton, seems to have found a rare place in the hearts of the locals. This is a man who, although his record stands at a modest P 28, W 11, D 7, L 10, seems to currently have the keys to the town and the presence of Pep Guardiola.
Given the second half Fleetwood performance – part Bristol Rovers’ changing room bollocking, part Fleetwood fading after an incredibly free-flowing first 45 – two questions remain. One – have Fleetwood hardened psychologically to cope with late pressure? Two – have Fleetwood got the quality in depth, especially in midfield, to cope with nine months of action?
Left side, Denver Hume looks like a great acquisition or rather free transfer from Grimsby. Comfortable feet. Solid. Centre half, Toby Mullarkey looks eerily relaxed, as if Brendan left a ‘How to Chill’ self-help book behind before his departure to Plymouth.