Cobblers will come up with 'another plan' for FA Cup tie at York City - Hogg
Chris Hogg will devise a new game plan when Cobblers return to York City for the first round of the FA Cup this weekend.
After successfully surrendering possession in the league meeting at the LNER Stadium last month, which ended in a 1-1 draw, Town intend to make one or two tweaks for Saturday’s first round tie.
"It's a cup tie so it'll be a different game,” said Hogg. “I’m sure both teams will do different things. We had a plan last time but every game is unique and we'll have another plan.
“There will be some elements of the performance that we'll try reproduce but we'll do other things as well and I'm sure York will be the same. We want to go there and give a good account of ourselves.”
Although it is a change in competition this weekend, the pressure will be on Cobblers to perform after Tuesday’s disappointing defeat to Oldham.
"It feels slightly different,” Hogg added. “York will be the same. It’s a good one because we know the environment and we know the team we’re coming up against. I’m sure they’ll tweak things but we need a response from Tuesday and make sure we get back to the level of performance we expect.”
Reflecting on Tuesday’s home defeat, Hogg said: "You get games in League Two where it can be quite random. Credit to Oldham, they came out with the result, but it was a low level game and we can't allow ourselves to get sucked into that type of game for too long a period.
"Every team I've ever been involved in since I was a 12-year-old, the strategy is to try and get the ball in their half and play in their half in the first five or 10 minutes and make them uncomfortable.
"That was part of the strategy but what we've done well at certain times is manage those decisions and smooth the game out and play a bit differently, and when the spaces open up, have the bravery and composure to change the rhythm of the game, but we didn't do that at all really, especially in the first half.
"You have top withstand the direct play and then show quality to get the ball back on the ground and get back to what we do well.
"There were many times where we could have smoothed the ball out and shown some composure and an element of quality. There was definitely space on the left side at times but we didn't have the quality to get it there and it became quite scrappy.
"I actually thought we showed a bit more structure in our play in the second half and created a few moments without that killer touch, and to concede the goal in the manner we did was disappointing.”