Brighton loanee Marc Leonard is up for the fight after being 'targeted' by Burton and Barrow

Cobblers midfielder Marc Leonard will ‘relish’ the challenge if he continues to be targeted by opposition teams after being on the wrong end of some rough treatment against Burton Albion and Barrow in the last two games.

The Brewers in particular appeared to identify Leonard as the key threat in Saturday’s League One fixture at Sixfields and tried to stick one on him more than once, but it did not deter the 21-year-old, who was the game’s outstanding player as Cobblers secured a well-deserved 2-0 victory.

"Sometimes it feels like I'm being targeted, definitely in the first half against Barrow, and it seemed like a tactic again from Burton because there were a few challenges,” said Leonard.

"But I relish that to be honest and if they're trying to stick one on me then it gives me confidence to know that maybe I'm that player that they want to target."

Leonard stayed down a couple of times after some late challenges on Saturday but he was fine to carry on and finish the game.

"I'm all good,” he added. “These things happen. I don't like to see the physios too much! But I was pleased to be able to continue because I took a sore one in the middle of the pitch in the first half.

"In terms of them being punished for it, I'm not too fussed. There will probably be times in the season when I might do that to another player and I wouldn’t want to be punished!”

Cobblers have had a lot of the ball in many of their games this season but both Leonard and the team showed a different side to themselves during Saturday’s 2-0 victory.

The Brighton loanee continued: "I'm used to having a lot of the ball and dominating teams but it feels just as good to have a performance like that where you really dig in and grind it out.

"It's a big win for us because we know the last few games haven't been good enough. It's just a relief as much as anything because we needed three points.

"I thought it was a dominant performance, maybe not in terms of possession like in previous games, but we got stuck in, did a lot of work off the ball and ground out three points and we deserved it in the end.”