Horsfall ready to step up and take more responsibility for Cobblers

Fraser Horsfall would relish the extra responsibility should he be asked to lead the Cobblers on a more regular basis this season.

The 24-year-old is the only centre-back still at the club from last season after Cian Bolger Lloyd Jones and Alan Sheehan all departed, making him one of the more senior men left in the squad.

Only Sam Hoskins (49) made more appearances in all competitions for the Cobblers than Horsfall (47) last season, and with so many new faces coming on-board this summer, he’s ready to accept more responsibility.

“I know what the club’s like and the fans are like after being here for a year so I feel a little bit more responsibility to welcome the new lads in,” said Horsfall.

“But that’s something I enjoy and I like getting the new boys involved and helping them gel with everyone and now we want to carry on and continue to build good relationships.”

With club captain Joseph Mills not quite ready to return from his long-term ankle injury, Horsfall has shared the armband with summer addition Jon Guthrie in both friendlies against Sileby and West Ham this week

“I like to think I can be a leader on the pitch but we’ve all got to be leaders,” he added. “It can’t just be me or whoever’s wearing the armband when we’re inside the dressing room and just generally around the place.

“We’ve got a lot of good characters, particularly with a lot of the new lads – they’re all good characters.

“That (captaincy) is not something I’m thinking about at the minute.

“I just want to focus on my game and improve my fitness and I’m sure that’s the same for all the lads.”

Given all the change in personnel over the last few weeks, the Cobblers could be forgiven for looking a little disjointed at this stage of pre-season, but they produced an encouraging showing against the Hammers.

Sam Hoskins scored the only goal after a strong start by the visitors, but Town dominated the second-half and created enough chances to at least earn a draw.

“I think we feel good and strong,” Horsfall continued.

“We’ve had a couple of weeks of pre-season now and there are a lot of new lads in the building.

“It’s just about gelling with them and getting used to playing with different players and Tuesday was another good run-out.

“West Ham are a top side and they kept the ball very well but I think we had good shape to us, especially in the second-half, and it’s just about getting that understanding of each other’s game and building partnerships all over the pitch.

“We’re only two weeks in but the lads are getting fitter and fitter and I thought it was another good test for us.”

On how the new-look squad is coming together, Horsfall added: “Obviously we have a lot of new lads.

“I think it’s 10, plus the trialists, so we’re getting to know everyone and their personalities and getting them in the building from the start of pre-season helps.

“I’m sure there might be more new faces coming in and we’ll make sure they feel welcomed as well because it’s good to form those new relationships and it just happens naturally on the pitch.”