Winter break brings fresh start for Town
Northampton Town FC vs Brackley Town FC. Cobblers players stock shots. Shaun Harrad
Aidy Boothroyd has said the recent weather-inflicted break has brought a pre-season feel to Sixfields.
That’s a very positive way to look at it, but the flip side is that Northampton haven’t been playing and so they haven’t been able to put any points on the table.
But, other than Hereford, who drew with Cheltenham on Saturday, neither has any other team and the Cobblers haven’t lost any ground on the likes of Dagenham.
The Northampton players will be chomping at the bit to get out there but while they’ve got a game tonight, they miss out on Saturday, with Crawley having FA Cup commitments.
It’s stop, start at the moment and they really could have done with playing Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, especially if they win tonight.
If they beat AFC Wimbledon, they will want to be playing on Saturday, but they won’t be.
It’s not an ideal scenario but Aidy has got his players in, he can pretty much say it’s his team now and it’s time to go and do it for the club.
They need some wins and the good thing is that they’ve got the backing of all the fans, which is fantastic because that doesn’t always happen when you’re struggling.
I can only see them getting out of it.
They’ve got a good enough team and a good enough squad to start climbing the table, and I’d be disappointed if they are still in the bottom two in three weeks’ time.
Every footballer wants to play football, and having two or three weeks without a game drives you mad.
Sometimes the mentally weak are happy not to play when they’ve been on such a bad run, but I think Aidy has got a strong group, with good characters and they will be eager to get out there.
It’s been a mini pre-season and you always look forward to the first game of the season so if they can go in with that mentality then that will stand them in good stead.
They have got to forget about what’s happened in the past. They’ve got a new team together, it’s a fresh start and there’s an 18-game season to get as many points as possible.
The Cobblers can’t use their 3-0 win at AFC Wimbledon earlier in the season as any sort of benchmark when the two teams meet at Sixfields tonight.
It’s a completely different team now, a fresh start for everyone.
It will be a tough game because Wimbledon went through a slump but they’ve picked up again.
There’s no magic wand in football, it will be tough and Northampton have got to grind a win out.
It’s a big test because home games can be a big advantage, but if you don’t win them and you have too many home games in a short space of time, the fans can get a bit agitated.
If you don’t produce in front of your own fans they can get a bit edgy, but if the Cobblers can win their next two or three games everyone will get a boost.
The problem comes when you’re not winning and consecutive home games becomes a bit of a drag for the fans.
They think ‘oh no, we’re at home again’.
You think you’ve got an advantage but that’s not always the case.
The fans won’t be expecting a performance now, they want results.
And they would be delighted if they get four 1-0 wins playing rubbish.
Performances are not important at the moment, results are. If they don’t play well from now until the end of the season but stay up, that’s the most important thing.
I was delighted to see Shaun Harrad score for Rotherham at Southend on Friday night.
I texted him to say ‘well done’, and he will get as massive boost from that goal at Roots Hall.
He will feel a little hard done by after what happened at Northampton. It was tough for him because I brought him in during January, got to work with him for five games and then got the sack.
He was probably thinking ‘what have I done, coming here?’. It wasn’t ideal because the last manager didn’t take to him and sold him on.
He’s had a bit of a rough time in the last few months. The games he did play at Bury were out of position and I know he wasn’t happy playing in a wide area.
But he’s gone to Rotherham and is playing down the middle now. He can’t have wished for a better start so that will lift his confidence.
He’s a goalscorer and even at Northampton he scored six in 18.
Some will point out that three of those were penalties, but he’s on penalties because he can score them.
For Shaun’s sake, I hope he does score some goals and the Northampton fans say ‘he should be scoring them for us’.
Football’s about opinions and managers have different opinions on players, but Shaun will be at Rotherham now, with them hoping to reach the play-offs.
And he might be the catalyst for them getting there.
Email to a friend
Print this page- BREAKING NEWS: Tributes paid to Niamh Curry as brave five-year-old loses battle against cancer
- BREAKING NEWS: Pensioner dies after collision at Northampton shopping centre
- Man tied to tree and beaten on Northampton Racecourse
- BREAKING NEWS: Woman’s body found after ‘suicide’ in Northampton hotel room
- BREAKING NEWS: Seven-year-old boy dies following house fire in Northamptonshire
- Staff strike at Northampton school over academy plans forces closure
- Northampton binmen at ‘breaking point’
- Saints’ stadium plans get support as long as traffic issues solved
- Eastern European pupils helping school standards across Northampton
- Exclusive: PM David Cameron says Northamptonshire Police Commissioner role is “a big job for a big local figure”
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Northampton
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.