In-form Hoskins says self-belief is high in Cobblers camp as they prepare to face Bury

Despite their poor run of form prior to last Saturday's victory at Shrewsbury, which saw Northampton collect just one point from four league games, Hoskins insisted their self-belief never once wavered.

"We've got to be positive in everything we do and believe in ourselves," he said.

"Some of the football we played on Saturday at Shrewsbury, I don't think any team can match us, so we always believe in ourselves and we showed on Saturday we can perform much better than we did last Tuesday."

Bury themselves have toiled for consistency this season. After winning five in a row in September, the Shakers have since lost every game, including Monday's 2-0 home defeat to rivals Bolton.

That's seen David Flitcroft's tumble down the League One table from second place to 11th.

Cobblers have lost their last two games at Sixfields, conceding six goals in the process, but Hoskins says confidence is high.

He added: "We go into every game believing we can win and trying to play the same way.

"We'll take the positives from Shrewsbury and push on because there's lots to build-on.

"There's no midweek game too so we have the whole week to prepare which will be good for us and off the back of a great result, we'll be going into the game with full confidence we can get three points.

"We'll do the same things we did last Saturday at home and hopefully give the fans a good result."