Northampton Town: Walker hoping for a happier Sixfields
Having been cleared for FA Cup duty this weekend by parent club Middlesbrough, Josh Walker is looking forward to a more glorious afternoon at Sixfields than he endured on his first outing there.
Walker put in a decent display on debut against Crewe a week ago and got better in Tuesday night's defeat at Aldershot.
The young midfielder certainly has something. His first touch and passing with either foot is as smooth as glass and usually to one of his own team-mates.
Walker's overall impact – and end product – in his first two games has been limited, but everyone is allowed a period of orientation and instant impacts are few and far between when you're going from the top end of the championship to the lower reaches of league two.
The former England youth midfielder will have been well briefed on the club's current predicament by fellow Middlesbrough loanee John Johnson.
And if he wanted to know what the fans currently think about the way the team is playing, he need only have listened to their reaction at half-time last weekend.
"Saturday was my home debut and we got booed off at half-time so it wasn't the best of starts," he said.
"But in the second half we came out and fought right to the end and got a deserved point.
"Maybe if I'd have taken my chance, we'd have taken all three.
"I should have scored but the fans stuck with the team and we got a good following on Tuesday night. We really wanted to put in a performance for them.
"On Tuesday we really wanted to get a win for the fans and I felt we did that in the first half.
"For the majority of the second half we didn't look under pressure at all and everyone knows what went on but it was frustrating."
As if hearing the boos ring out from the west stand just 45 minutes into his Northampton Town career wasn't enough, Walker then had to listen to some harsh words from his new manager moments later.
Ian Sampson admitted he 'lost it' for the first time since becoming the permanent Cobblers manager with his side 2-0 down at home to Crewe.
It could have been a bigger margin than that, too. Walker admits the team were 'terrible' in the first half against the Railwaymen.
"He (Sampson) is a good motivator," said the midfielder.
"In the first half on Saturday we were terrible to be honest. We went in at half-time and he gave us one good team talk.
"He had a go at a few of us which motivated the whole team and we should have got the three points. The other night we should have won, but we were on the wrong end of a few dodgy decisions."
Town might need the rub of the green that has gone against them in the past week or two to go their way if they are to stand a chance against Southampton tomorrow.
The Saints are one of the wealthiest clubs in the Football League thanks to billionaire backer Marcus Liebherr, who bought the club for 13m in the summer.
Players like Rickie Lambert – who Southampton paid 1m for from Bristol Rovers in the summer – and Marek Saganowski are understood to be on salaries in the region of 350,000 a year.
But the Cobblers have beaten richer and better teams before. Almost a year ago to the day they downed Leeds United at Sixfields, and just 15 months ago they famously sank Bolton at the Reebok Stadium.
It is such results that keep the flame of belief burning for the Northampton players.
“We believe we can win any game,” said Walker.
“We went into the game at Aldershot expecting to get the three points but it wasn’t to be and we’ll look to push on tomorrow and get through to the next round of the Cup.
“Of course we will have a good chance to beat them.
“We’ll be ready come Saturday and we’ll be looking to push on.”
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Weather for Northampton
Tuesday 07 February 2012
Today
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Temperature: -8 C to 1 C
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