Northampton Town: Gilbert looking for an early Christmas gift
Peter Gilbert is targeting an early Cobblers Christmas present tomorrow – and the shot in the arm the team's form needs.
And the left-back says that upsetting Southampton in the FA Cup will provide the perfect tonic for the club's league form.
Manager Ian Sampson will be judged at the end of the season not on what Northampton do in the FA Cup but how many league points they have.
Although performance levels have been raised since Sampson took over as permanent manager, three-point hauls have proved hard to come by.
They should have had a victory on Tuesday night before a horror show 10 minutes that saw Aldershot take the win.
Gilbert says the squad need to put that game behind them now and focus on giving everyone connected with the club a shot in the arm ahead of a busy December league programme.
"I'm looking forward to Saturday and we'll have to put Tuesday behind us," he said.
"But they're a fantastic bunch of lads, everyone gets on well and we've got to get ready for tomorrow and be as positive as we can.
"There is no pressure on us so we've got to enjoy the game and hopefully get a win which would give us a boost going into the Christmas period."
The knee-jerk reaction to Tuesday night's loss was an extremely negative one, with many observers choosing to focus on the team's inability to put the seal on a result rather than remembering the good things they did until it all unravelled.
It's worth pointing out that Aldershot didn't have a shot on goal for more than an hour, and the Town defence looked well on top until the 80th minute.
At that stage, they were punished – Gilbert feels – for two errors of judgment.
"There were two mistakes," he said. "The penalty decision was harsh because even if there was contact, you see defenders block off strikers and shield the ball out all the time.
"If you're going to give one then you've got to give them all so I feel for Rodgey (Paul Rodgers).
"With the second one we feel for Chris (McCready) but he has done fantastic and I thought both our centre halves did well so it was just frustrating."
The Cup takes centre stage this weekend but for the Cobblers players – and their manager, of course – the league is the main priority.
For someone with Gilbert's pedigree of playing at a higher level, that is a fact writ large.
"I want to get out this league," he said.
"I don't want to be in league two, I've got my ambitions and I don't want to be at this level for too long.
"It's just things aren't really happening for us and we've been unlucky in recent weeks."
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Weather for Northampton
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: East
