Cobblers boss Edinburgh: Coventry win must be catalyst for rest of season

Northampton manager Justin Edinburgh is well aware that Saturday's 3-0 win over Coventry City will count for little unless the Cobblers use it as a springboard for the rest of the season.
ALL SMILES: Justin Edinburgh got his first win as Cobblers boss on Saturday. Pictures by Kirsty EdmondsALL SMILES: Justin Edinburgh got his first win as Cobblers boss on Saturday. Pictures by Kirsty Edmonds
ALL SMILES: Justin Edinburgh got his first win as Cobblers boss on Saturday. Pictures by Kirsty Edmonds

Keshi Anderson’s excellent hat-trick inspired Town to a crucial and precious victory as they dispatched fellow strugglers Coventry to move up to 16th and put further breathing space between themselves and the bottom four.

But Edinburgh admits his side must ensure the result does not prove to be another false dawn for Cobblers fans like previous wins, such as those over Port Vale and Oxford United which were both followed by defeats.

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Up next is a trip to Walsall before Northampton face two critical home games in the space of four days against 22nd-placed Chesterfield and then 20th-placed Swindon.

“That’s what I said the players afterwards - it’s been too long and too irregular,” said Edinburgh.

“We’ve got to make sure this is happening on our regular basis between now and the end of the season.

“The aim is to keep climbing. We’ve certainly got to be better than when we went away last time but I’ve seen signs of improvement.

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“Saturday was a fantastic win and we want a few more of those. We’ll enjoy the weekend but get straight back to work and look forward to the next game.

Reflecting further on Saturday’s win, Edinburgh took heart from his side’s performance, particularly in the second-half when they dominated much of the play and scored the three all-important goals.

Asked why they improved so markedly after half-time, the Cobblers boss explained: “There’s always a bit of nervousness within the group because the home form hasn’t been as good as everyone would want, but I felt we switched the play so much better second-half.

“Our decision-making and our game-management was far better. We were able to get the ball wide and we got our full-backs forward.

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“We pinned them back and moved the ball quicker. We played two-touch rather than having too many touches in wrong areas.”

It was the performances of three loan players that was key to victory, and whilst Anderson stole many of the headlines, Edinburgh was keen to highlight both Luke Williams and Hiram Boateng for their part.

“I thought Boateng and Williams were very good,” he added. “They drove forward and picked up really good positions.

“Luke only met his team-mates on Friday so there’s more to come from him, and we had Boateng’s athleticism and his driving out from midfield, so there were a lot of good performances.”