Cobblers players hold 'harsh conversations' with each other in bid to turn season around

Beaten with something of a whimper at Blackpool on Saturday, and then having surrendered a lead to lose at relegation rivals Rotherham on Tuesday, Cobblers have won just one of their last 10 league games and now occupy 22nd place in the League One table.

Back in the side for the first time in 2026 against Blackpool, McCarthy admitted Cobblers only have themselves to blame, saying: "It’s absolutely not the result I wanted on my return to the team. It’s not the result any of us wanted, either in the changing room or in the stands, and it’s difficult to take.

"The goals came at really bad times and we gave ourselves a mountain to climb by conceding after only a few minutes. Then we start the second half really well, we have the ball in their half, we get caught on the ball and it ends up in the back of our net and that’s 2-0 and it’s a long way back.”

Confidence has clearly taken a hit but McCarthy says the players are the only ones who can get themselves out of the hole, adding: "I’d say footballers in general thrive on confidence but the last couple of games haven't gone as we wanted and so it’s up to us as players to have some harsh conversations with each other.

"We need to have that trust in each other a bit more and hopefully we will see the fruits of that in the next few weeks because talk is cheap and we need to go and do the business on the pitch. That’s the beauty of football, as disappointing as it feels, the games come thick and fast and there’s no time to lick our wounds or rest on our laurels because we want to put it right.”

McCarthy came off before full-time at Bloomfield Road but lasted the full 90 against Rotherham. "I’m absolutely fine,” he confirmed. “I feel fully fit and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.”