Boss Hasselbaink staying calm in face of Cobblers' goalscoring problems

The manager is currently overseeing a Town run of five matches without a win or a goal, and says he knows he ‘can’t fool people’ that there isn’t a problem.

But he insists that overplaying the extent of the issue regarding the team’s lack of goals will only make the situation worse, and that he has every confidence his players will soon turn the situation around.

A prolific striker at the highest level in his days as a player for various clubs, including Chelsea, Leeds United and Middlesbrough, as well as the Netherlands, Hasselbaink knows all there is to know about the art of goalscoring.

As a manager he has to rely on others doing the job for him, and the former Burton Albion and Queens Park Rangers boss is sure he has the players and squad to do the job for him at Sixfieds, despite their recent struggles.

This is the second goal drought the Cobblers have suffered since Hasselbaink took over from Justin Edinburgh in September, the other lasting for more than four games in September and October, and asked if he had experienced such issues before, the Town boss said: “In my managerial career, not really.

“I have always been at clubs where we regularly scored.

“When I was at Burton we didn’t score a lot of goals, but we didn’t concede many and were a lot better at stopping other teams.

“We had a lot of games that we won 1-0, or 2-1, and that is a good thing to have that you don’t have to score a lot of goals.

“Its a little bit different here, and everybody knows that is one of our problems, it’s a fact.

“I would be a liar if I tried to coat it any other way, I can’t fool people.

“It is a problem, it is something we are working on and trying to improve and to keep on believing.

“But it is something that the more you concentrate on it, the more it becomes a problem, a bigger problem.

“It is time to stay calm and just keep on working at it, and making sure we are trying to do the right things at the right times, and I think it will come.”

Town go to Oldham Athletic on Saturday aiming to end a run that has seen them go 495 minutes without scoring.

The Latics boast the worst defensive record in Sky Bet League One this season, having let in 38 goals in 20 games, but they have improved lately, conceding just four in their past six in all competitions.

And Hasselbaink continued: “You have to be positive, and it doesn’t matter who the striker is, it is not easy when you are not scoring, or midfielders.

“But I have always said we need goals from everywhere in the team, but also from the strikers.

“We need to provide more opportunities for them, but on the other hand it is now becoming time that they also need to score.

“Hopefully, when they start scoring then they will start providing chances for themselves as well, that is now it works.

“But you have to keep on trying, you have to keep on going, and I have all the belief we have the strikers and wide players to go up the league.”