Calderwood confirms rotation plan for Lincoln City and demands 'much better' from Cobblers
Colin Calderwood has confirmed that Cobblers plan to make changes for tonight’s difficult assignment at in-form Lincoln City.
The promotion-chasing Imps are 14 unbeaten and look well-placed to defy pre-season expectations and win promotion to the Championship. They were not among the favourites at the start of the campaign but only Cardiff sit above them in League One and they currently have a six-point gap back to Bolton in third.
This is the fourth of six successive midweek fixtures in league and cup for Town, and with a critical run of games on the horizon, including three in a row at home, tonight’s visit to Sincil Bank is unlikely to make or break their season.
"I think it’s probably clear we need to do that (rotate),” said Calderwood. “We did that last midweek but we still want to get the right personnel on the pitch for what we think will counteract the opposition and give ourselves the best chance of winning the game.
“We have nearly everyone available for selection, there’s no knocks from Saturday, and the feeling around the training ground is really good. They’re competitive with each other and they’re challenging each other and that’s good to see because there are some good players not making the squad at the moment.”
Calderwood also admitted that Cobblers will have to be ‘much better’ in possession if they are to have any chance of returning from Sincil Bank with a positive result.
"Lincoln have shown all season that they are a really strong outfit, especially at home,” he added. “They’re very well-rounded and it’s a real challenge for us but we’ve upset the odds a few times this season and we’ll look to do that again.
"There has to be an improvement in many aspects from Saturday and we challenged the boys to look at that today (Monday) when we debriefed the game and analysed it. There’s so much better to come from us, certainly with the ball, and the lads accepted that straightaway and they feel themselves they can improve a lot.
"We were resolute and committed and defended particularly well so that side of it was good, but we don’t want too much of that. We had to on Saturday and we got through it and kept a clean sheet.”