Determined Warburton wants to prove himself at Cobblers after 'frustrating' first season

The 28-year-old may have feared his big opportunity to make it as a professional footballer would be taken away from him following a mixed first season at the Cobblers.

And had Keith Curle landed more of his top targets earlier in the summer transfer window, or had certain players not been injured, it’s far from certain that Warburton would have even started Saturday’s Carabao Cup tie against Cardiff City.

But start he did and perhaps it will prove the decisive moment of his Town career because for all the fretting over new attacking signings – or the lack of them – this summer, players like Warburton should not be discarded.

He looked fit, sharp and determined to succeed. And now with a full year of league football under his belt, he’s better prepared than ever to thrive at this level.

“It was a frustrating season,” admitted Warburton. “It was obviously my first year in full-time football and it takes a bit of time to get used to.

“To go from scoring early on to not being involved as much as I would have liked was difficult, but I’ve got my head screwed on and I know what I need to do to get into this team and hopefully I showed that on Saturday.

“It was definitely a learning curve. I’m not used to a professional environment so there were lots of bits and pieces that I picked up on in terms of going from semi-pro to a full-time athlete.

“I’ve learned off the players and the manager and hopefully it will start to pay off because it’s about being consistent week in, week out and that’s something I probably struggled with last season.”

The arrival of Benny Ashley-Seal from Wolves this week adds further competition at the top end of the pitch, but Warburton is confident he can keep his place in the team.

“I’m in the wrong profession if I don’t feel I have a chance of playing every week,” he added. “I need to make sure I’m doing everything I can to give myself the best chance.

“I’m doing extra gym work at the moment to stay on top of my fitness and my strength and it’s all geared towards getting that starting place.

“I’m under no illusions that it’ll be tough because we’ve got lads missing out who will come back into the squad but if I carry on in the same way as on Saturday, I’m hopeful that I can keep the shirt and that’s the key for me this year – just to play as many games and score as many goals as I possibly can.”

Warburton’s goal on Saturday, a lovely deft finish to make it 2-0 just after half-time, was a triumph for Town’s recruitment team because the two men involved both came from non-league.

Ricky Korboa, who signed from the seventh tier last week, created the goal with a well-judged through ball, and Warburton finished it off nicely.

“I thought Ricky was excellent given it was his pro debut against a Championship team,” said Warburton.

“He’s come from the league below me but he’s done very well since coming in. He’s a lovely lad, so enthusiastic and he wants to learn.

“I’ve sat next to him in the changing room now and again and dropped little things that could help his game but you don’t want to overbear someone who’s come into an environment like this.

“Full credit to him because from his first day, he’s impressed and he fully deserved to play on Saturday and it was a very good performance.

“And personally, I was delighted with the goal because it’s been a long time coming.

“Now I need to be more selfish and more relentless in the final third and add more of that into my game.”

Town's performance against Cardiff was an encouraging way to start the campaign and they're going to need a lot more of that once the new League One season begins on Saturday.

"The confidence in the changing room is now going to be high after winning 3-0 against a Championship team going into the first league game," Warburton added.

"We've got a style of play that everyone has bought into and you can see that from the last three games going back to the play-offs last season.

"Everyone knows what we're about, most importantly we know ourselves, and if we carry on delivering, we'll be a tough team to play against."