Joey Barton has revealed Fleetwood Town are devising their set pieces around Harry Souttar, such is the aerial dominance of the 1.98 metre Australian.
And it took just four minutes into his second Fleetwood debut – a 3-1 opening day win over Peterborough - for the 20-year-old on-loan Stoke City defender to profit from his manager's plan.
Souttar opened his side’s English Football League One account with a crashing header from a corner after four minutes and, a matter of minutes later, clipped a delightful pass forward for English midfielder Josh Morris to double the advantage.
READ: The conversation that led to Harry Souttar’s Australia call-up
“We’ve worked on getting some new moving patterns for him from corners, because he’s so good in the air,” said Fleetwood boss and ex-Premier League star Barton post-match.
“Credit must go to the staff and everyone at the club for that, especially the statistic department who highlight these areas during the week. It’s pleasing to come off the pitch and their work has been rewarded."
Souttar, born in Aberdeen, pledged his allegiance to Australia in March after accepting a call-up to Graham Arnold’s squad for the AFC Under-23 Championship qualifying campaign.
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Iredale goes three from three
Another of Australia’s emerging stars, 20-year-old striker John Iredale, was also on the score sheet overnight.
Iredale hit his third goal in as many matches for VfL Wolfsburg’s Regionalliga Nord division team.
A former product of Sydney FC, Iredale moved to the Bundesliga club in July from Dutch outfit Heerenveen.
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