Defender Taylor urges Cobblers to kick-on from '˜massive' Bradford win

Cobblers defender Ash Taylor wants his side to use Saturday's '˜massive' 2-1 victory at Bradford City as the cue to kick-on for the rest of the season and climb away from relegation danger.
Ash Taylor celebrates John-Joe O'Toole's opener at Bradford. Pictures: Kirsty EdmondsAsh Taylor celebrates John-Joe O'Toole's opener at Bradford. Pictures: Kirsty Edmonds
Ash Taylor celebrates John-Joe O'Toole's opener at Bradford. Pictures: Kirsty Edmonds

Town remain in the bottom four despite claiming an unexpected three points at Valley Parade when goals from John-Joe O’Toole and Chris Long steered them to a thoroughly deserved 2-1 win.

It was their second successive victory having also beaten Southend United 3-1 seven days earlier but this would not the first time that they have threatened to put a run together and then quickly fallen away again.

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The Cobblers won three league games in a row between October and November but then failed to win any of their next six, and after playing well in beating Walsall and drawing with Blackburn in December, they were soundly defeated at Doncaster and Portsmouth the following week.

Taylor hopes it will be different this time around, however, especially with Northampton bolstered by new signings and desperate for points to finally allay fears of relegation.

“The three points are massive for us,” said the centre-back who was again outstanding in Saturday’s win at Valley Parade. “We’ve got a bit more momentum now and it’s time to kick-on from this because it was a strong away performance.

“There’s been a bit of change and we know as players that we’ve got a strong squad and there’s belief there. We just need to show it more and we are now, so hopefully we can kick-on again.”

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O’Toole’s header on the brink of half-time was just reward for Northampton’s first-half efforts on a boggy, heavy Valley Parade pitch before Long’s clinical finish gave Bradford a mountain to climb.

Paul Taylor’s late strike gave them hope of snatching a dramatic point but the Cobblers held their nerve to end a six-game losing run on the road and move to within one point of safety.

“The pitch was exactly how it looked,” added Taylor. “It wasn’t good but we dealt with the conditions better than them and we’ve done the job.

“The most important part of the game is putting the ball in the net. We’ve struggled a bit with that season but they’re starting to come now. It doesn’t matter who scores, as long as it hits the back of the net it’s all good.

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“I think we switched off for their goal, we didn’t stand in front of the free-kick. We managed to stop them taking them quickly earlier in the game but we didn’t at the end, but overall it was a strong performance and a massive win for us.

“It’s a big boost for the confidence. It’s a tough place to go and you’ve seen teams get rolled over there but we didn’t. It was a massive away performance, we worked as a unit and as a whole team and it’s credit for the lads.”

The 393 travelling fans were also rightly praised by Taylor after they out-sung the large home contingent throughout the game.

“We were aware of them,” he said. “They were fantastic. Towards the end the Bradford fans got off their seats and were louder but I thought our fans out-sung them. They were fantastic and got right behind us.”