Hogg urges club to 'believe in itself again' after sensing 'lack of self-belief'
Chris Hogg has urged Cobblers to ‘believe in themselves again’ after saying he senses an ‘undertone of a lack of self-belief from everyone around the club and around the town’ following Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Gillingham.
It was noticeable that Cobblers gathered in a huddle, led by captain Jon Guthrie, after conceding just seven minutes into the game at Priestfield. That was a deliberate strategy by Hogg and the players in a bid to conjure a positive response, and it worked insomuch that they fought back for a point courtesy of Logan Briggs’ fine finish.
"I see their character and spirit every day and we need to keep building that,” said Hogg. “We've had chats about strategy during games and the boys have taken it on board and implemented it.
“I think it helps to connect the group again. It was a poor goal to concede from our point of view and it's something we've spoken about in terms of how we stay level and keep doing what we do well and we produced a good response.
"The group has a real character and a real spirit building and we need to keep that bubbling along and make sure we feed it and stick with it.
“The fans travelled in their numbers, even in the weather, and you could see it at the end that they appreciated their effort of the lads. They dug in and defended the box in a tough match.
“I just want the guys to go and believe in themselves and I want the club to believe in itself again. I get this real undertone of a lack of self-belief in certain moments from everyone around the club and around the town.
"But the boys showed there is that resilience and grit and spirit, and we'll get better and better if we stick with certain elements of our performance."
Asked if it’s a legacy from last season, Hogg kept his reply predictably swift, saying: “Yes, most probably.”
On the huddle, Briggs explained: “It’s something we have spoken about doing when we concede to make sure we don’t go under. It’s sink or swim in that moment and getting together and regrouping, it gets us back focused and we can reset and it helped us to get back into the game.
“That’s very important because we don’t want to go two or three goals behind because that would be a mountain to climb.”