Cobblers: Sampson plays down top-three talk
COBBLERS boss Ian Sampson has scotched talk of his red-hot side mounting a bid for automatic promotion from Coca-Cola League Two.
Town moved into the play-off places with a fourth win on the spin on Saturday, defeating Darlington 2-0 thanks to goals from John Johnson and Abdul Osman.
It means the club's supporters can start dreaming about a potential trip to Wembley – if the side can stay in the top seven for the next 10 games.
But there has been some talk of a tilt at the top three for a team that has won their past four games, talk Sampson is keen to play down.
"I'm not thinking about that at all," said the manager, whose team are only six points off third-placed Bury. "I don't ever want to get ahead of myself.
"People were talking about the play-offs probably six or seven games ago when we were nowhere near.
"Let's just worry about consolidating in a play-off position. Maybe we can get further up the table but we're not looking at automatic promotion.
"I think those places may just be beyond us. Notts County have got quite a few games in hand and our aim is to just stay where we are and keep winning games."
Sampson also revealed reaching the play-off zone has been his aim ever since the team first began to turn their form around.
The manager maintains the Cobblers will still need to win six of their remaining 10 games to cement their place in the play-offs, a task he concedes will be very difficult.
"I haven't admitted it but that was what we were aiming for," he said. "I always said I wanted us to consolidate in the top half; we're in the top seven now and I'm delighted.
"We've got 10 games to go and we've got teams to aim at above us in the table. To get 10 victories would be nice but we're still looking for another six.
"It was a big ask to get nine and it still will be, but we've got three down and we'll see where it takes us.
"We've put ourselves in a good position, most teams have played the same amount of games as us now and if we keep playing well and keeping clean sheets then who knows where it will take us."
For more reaction, match report, ratings and pictures, see Monday's Chronicle & Echo
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