Edinburgh delighted with Cobblers progress after first month in charge at Sixfields

Having been restricted to a watching brief for the narrow 2-1 Sixfields defeat to Scunthorpe a day after his appointment, Edinburgh has since overseen five matches and after his first game ended in a chaotic 5-3 defeat at Milton Keynes Down, Town have won three of their following four matches.

All three have come against teams in the bottom four, but it’s undeniable that Edinburgh’s influence has played a big role in returning the Cobblers to winning ways.

The latest came against Swindon Town on Tuesday evening when John-Joe O’Toole’s 83rd minute winner ensured Northampton picked up back-to-back league victories for the first time since October.

Edinburgh has been satisfied with how his players are coming along but, at the same time, admits there are aspects of their game to work on, such as developing a killer instinct when on top in matches.

“I think we’re making very good progress,” said the Cobblers boss as he reflects on a month in charge.

“We can never think we are where we want to be but I think we’re playing well for longer periods.

“The intensity in our game is getting better, but there’s a lot to work for and we’re probably the instigators of our own bad periods through games.

“Because while we dominate games for long spells, we perhaps don’t kill teams off.

“We always know we’re not going to dominate a game for the whole duration of it, but when we do dominate as much as we have done, we’ve probably got to be a bit more ruthless and clinical.

“But we’re not the finished article. I feel we’re getting stronger and players are able to maintain the intensity that I want them to play at for longer periods.”

Elaborating on what went well and what can be improved upon after Tuesday’s important win over Swindon, Edinburgh added: “I thought we started the second-half really well and got the goal but then made life difficult for ourselves again which I understand but I feel for longer periods we were better than we were on Saturday.

“You always look at the character and the mentality of the group - they picked themselves up and showed a positive reaction to conceding and went down the other end and got the winner.

“That’s great from a manager’s perspective, but we’ll always look at goals conceded and be disappointed with them.”