Heavy early-season schedule does not bother Cobblers pair

Neither Mitch Pinnock nor Sam Hoskins believe the heavy early-season schedule can be blamed for Cobblers’ slight drop off in form over the past few weeks.

Town have won only one of their last six league games – a thrilling 3-2 victory at league leaders Stevenage – and are coming off successive home draws against Sutton United and Newport County.

Hoskins has been both injured and ill but started against Newport on Saturday and scored a stoppage-time equaliser.

He said: "I’m fine now but we have had a lot of injuries and illnesses which I guess is part and parcel of the game.

"It's the same for every team. The schedule over the first two or three months of the season is always jam-packed but we are still in a great position.

"We have said it before but if you had offered this position with the amount of points we have after a tough start, we would be happy with it. It's important to rest up, train hard this week and go into the cup game at the weekend and then go from there."

In the first three months of the season, Cobblers have played 21 games. Their next 21 games are currently scheduled to be spread across five months, although that could change depending on the FA Cup. Manager Jon Brady has also had to deal with a series of injuries, illnesses and suspensions.

"That's just how the schedule is,” Hoskins added. “It's like that every season and it's the same for all teams so it's not as if we are playing more games than anyone else.

"You can't really look into too much. The advantage is that the second half of the season is less busy and there are fewer Tuesday games. We have got through a tough start to the season and we are in a good position."

Pinnock added: "I don't really mind the schedule. Personally I would rather play Saturday, Tuesday anyway because you don't have to train as much! But it has been tough and we have had some difficult games as well so it's good that we are still up there.

"We have a week without a Tuesday game now and that should give us a bit of time to work on some other stuff in training and kick-on.”