Edinburgh remains '˜sensible and realistic' as he targets swift improvement after opening-day wobble

In a slow start to the new campaign, Northampton were beaten by Lenell John-Lewis’ stoppage-time winner after a scrappy affair of few chances as both sides, especially the visitors, struggled for fluency.

But whilst the disjointed nature of Town’s performance may have prompted an element of concern among some fans on social media, that was certainly not the case for Edinburgh, who knows it may take time and patience for his much-changed side to click and hit top gear.

“It’s about being sensible and realistic,” he said. “It’s day one so there’s no need to panic.

“There’s obviously room for improvement, we know that, and there a lot of new bodies but once we get it right we’ll click and we’ll be a force.

“I think once we’re 12 games in that’s an indication of where you’re at, what you’re doing and what you’re looking to achieve.”

Among some areas that need work, Edinburgh did take away some positives from his side’s display at Shrewsbury, one of which was his side’s defensive effort in restricting Shrewsbury to very few clear sights of goal.

“I don’t remember them having one chance and I don’t remember Dai (Cornell) having a save, nor their keeper,” he added.

“I think both defences were on top and I think if we had kept a clean sheet and come away with a point we’d have been delighted.

“It would have given us a foundation but we haven’t got a foundation so we’ve got to work hard this week to put that in place.

“Defensively I thought we were good but there’s a lot of work to be done in possession for sure because we weren’t at our best with the ball.”