Austin bursting with pride after superb Cobblers shock Pilgrims

HAPPY MAN: Dean Austin was thrilled with his side's performance in their 2-0 win against Plymouth on Saturday. Picture by Sharon Lucey

Northampton had looked dead and buried barely 10 days ago when defeated 3-0 at Blackpool but they followed last weekend's dramatic 3-2 win over Bury with a highly accomplished 2-0 home victory against the play-off chasing Pilgrims.

John-Joe O'Toole's first-time finish poked Town in front shortly before half-time and an own goal from Zak Vyner sealed three points as the hosts created and missed a host opportunities, repeatedly thwarted by Remi Matthews, Plymouth's inspired goalkeeper who three times kept out Sam Hoskins while also denying Matt Crooks and Daniel Powell.

But the two goals and three points were more than sufficient in boosting Northampton's chances of staying up. They are now two points from safety and play two of their relegation rivals, Walsall and Oldham, in their final two games.

"I'm really proud and I'm really proud of everyone within the club," said a beaming Austin, whose side also ended their three-month wait for a home win. "This place was absolutely rocking today and the fans fed off of our intent and how we started the game.

"I'm just really pleased for the boys and I've told them to enjoy their day off and now there's another couple of games to go and we've got to get ready for next Saturday.

"We've worked very hard in the last two weeks. I'm not going to give my secrets away but we've been working on certain things and the players have been fantastic - I'm just disappointed we didn't score more!

"It's difficult to single out individual performances."

The performance marked a stark contrast to the dismal, lacklustre home defeats to Charlton and Rotherham just weeks earlier.

"This group is more than capable of easily holding its own in this division but sometimes it's about that little bit of belief and when things aren't going your way, it's easy to get bogged down," continued Austin.

"I believe that's what has happened to us but full credit to the players - they've proved to everybody that they are good enough to do it and the crowd was absolutely superb today."