Holmes reveals Cobblers had planned to change their gameplan against Doncaster before early red card

Winger Ricky Holmes revealed the Cobblers had planned to take a more positive approach to Saturday's game against Doncaster Rovers before Shaun McWilliams' red card.

Town had under 30 per cent possession in both of their two previous matches, a 1-1 draw at Rochdale and a 1-0 home victory over Fleetwood Town.

Switching to 4-2-3-1 with Holmes and Mark Marshall on the wings, manager Keith Curle had wanted his team to take the game to Doncaster on Saturday, however McWilliams' red card on just 18 minutes put paid to that.

"I want to get into scoring positions because I haven't of late, although we've got results so we can't argue," said Holmes. "But now we've found a platform and found a way to be solid. At the start of the season, before I signed, we went to places like Portsmouth and tried to be expansive but lost 4-0.

"So we looked at it and we focussed on staying in games and getting results and then when we get results, we can start being a bit more expansive and that was the plan on Saturday. It was going to be a 4-2-3-1 with license to get on the ball and play a bit higher than we have been recently, but unfortunately the sending off killed us.

"So that was frustrating, especially for me and Marshy. We've been dying to play on the wing with full-backs behind us so we don't have to track back too much but after 15 minutes the red card spoilt it.

"But we've got a great group. I know people probably say that about every changing room but it really is a good group and an honest group and we're always going to give our all, even if we come up short."

Cobblers were eventually beaten 2-0 by Doncaster following goals from Tyreece John-Jules and Joe Wright.

"It's a shame the game was spoilt because I thought we were on top for the first 15 minutes," added Holmes. "OK, they had some of the ball, but that was our gameplan - let their left-sided centre-back have the ball and then catch them once we nicked the ball back.

"I don't think they were hurting us but unfortunately the sending off changes things. Doncaster like to keep the ball without really hurting you but obviously they've come away with a 2-0 win and they walk away with three points and it's a job done on us.

"We've trained really well, we're on a good run and I think we would have won the game if we kept 11 men on the pitch."

However, although they fell to defeat, Holmes believes his side will adopt a more positive approach to games now they have tightened up at the back.

He continued: "We've got to play from a shape but also get on the ball a bit more and be more brave now we've got a few results under our belts and I'm sure we'll come good.

"I think we have been good against the top teams. When we tried to play too expansive, that's when we were getting beat. But there are good teams in this division, it's probably the strongest League One has been for a long time.

"The boys didn't have much break from last season and that can catch up with you but we're definitely improving and when we've played teams around us, like Burton, we've beaten them, and now we have two games coming up against teams around us.

"Crewe and Oxford are good sides but if we get results, we're looking up again. It's a little blip on Saturday, especially with 10 men, but we'll go into Crewe with confidence."