Northampton Town: Brown's arrival has been boost for Dunn
Goalkeeper Chris Dunn says Simon Brown's arrival at the Cobblers has played a big part in his improved form between the sticks.
One of Ian Sampson's first moves when he took the caretaker manager's reins at Sixfields was to sign the out-of-contract Brown.
It was expected that the experienced goalkeeper would become the club's new number one, with Dunn having endured a testing start to the season, and his confidence flagging as a result.
But after just two games in goal, Brown was dropped himself to make way for Dunn for the 3-0 defeat at Shrewsbury, and the man they call 'Stretch' hasn't looked back.
Brown has effectively replaced Jim Barron as the goalkeeping coach at Sixfields, and it seems the move has proved to be something of a master stroke by Sampson, who has since of course become the club's permanent manager.
Since being recalled at Shrewsbury, Dunn has turned in a string of impressive performances, making several excellent saves in recent weeks and, more importantly, looks much more calm and confident.
He looks a man in control of his penalty area, and that hasn't always been the case.
And Dunn says working with the experienced Brown has been a massive benefit to him.
"Simon Brown has come in and really helped me, he's been great for me," said Dunn, who will line up in goal for the Cobblers against Hereford United at Sixfields tonight.
"Even the younger lads at the club, he's really helping them as well and that's been a real positive for me.
"We work hard in training every day and saves have been made at vital times in games but the main thing is the team and as a team we need to start pulling some results out now."
It was never going to be easy for Dunn make the step into the Cobblers first team, especially as he was stepping into the boots of fans' favourite Mark Bunn.
It's fair to say Dunn has had some shaky moments in his Town career and not every supportershas always been convinced he is the man for the job, but the big man is really starting to win the fans over now.
"I think with results and saves the fans warm to you and move on," said the 22-year-old
"Bunny was a really good keeper, but I've just been concentrating on trying to do well for myself.
"I like to think I've made some decent saves and I don't think that's gone unnoticed here."
The Cobblers go into tonight's Sixfields clash with Hereford United desperate to claim their first home league win since the 1-0 triumph over Linccoln City back on October 17.
Since then they have had to settle for draws against both Grimsby Town and Crewe Alexandra, but on the plus side, the Cobblers also haven't lost a home league game since going down 2-1 to Rochdale way back on September 19.
And Dunn feels the team is playing better than recent result suggests anyay.
"We were quite happy with the way we played at Aldershot last week, it was just a couple of decisions went against us at vital moments in the game," he said.
"And then on Saturday we played alright against Southampton and played some good football, so we've just got to carry on doing that."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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