Town's play-off bid took a blow on Friday night when the side were beaten 2-1 at home by 10-man Nottingham Forest, the Cobblers' first home defeat since November.

That loss, combined with the weekend results, leave Gray's men 12th in Coca-Cola League One, five points off the top six.

This afternoon they travel to northern outpost Carlisle to play a Cumbrians side second in the division and bristling with confidence after a 3-0 win at Leyton Orient on Saturday.

The Cobblers have a good record at Brunton Park – they have avoided defeat there in their past five visits – but Carlisle have won 15 of 17 league games on their own patch this season, and Gray is fully aware of the task awaiting his side.

"We need to get back on to a run as quickly as possible," said the manager. "All runs come to an end and we really didn't want it to come to an end against Forest when they only had 10 men.

"But that has happened now, and my challenge to the players is to dust themselves down and go again at Carlisle.

"It will be a very difficult place to go, they don't lose many at home, but we've got seven games left and there are 21 points left to play for."

Today's game is the third of a sequence of three games against the division's finest, following a win over Swansea City and the loss to Forest.

Gray admitted it would be hard to assess which match would be the greatest challenge to his team's play-off credentials, but with Carlisle's recent form the Cobblers will face a stern examination this afternoon.

"It's hard to say," he said. "With their home form it is going to be a very difficult game, although we will have 24 hours on them because they played on Saturday.

"We can't look at their home form and use that as an excuse, we need to go there and do what we've done to Hartlepool and to Walsall in the past few weeks."

Hubertz rallying call – see today's Chron