'˜I don't want this to stop' admits boss Wilder as Cobblers chase 10th straight win

Wilder is not one to ever talk up his or his team’s efforts, but the fact is the Sky Bet League Two leaders travel to Bootham Crescent aiming to score a 10th straight league victory.

And the Town boss admits: “We don’t want this to stop.”

The Cobblers went past the previous record of eight straight wins which had stood for 46 years when they racked up win number nine with their 1-0 success against Wycombe Wanderers at Sixfields on Saturday.

The win saw the Cobblers go 10 points clear at the top of the table, but there is no sign of any sort of complacency creeping into the Cobblers camp, with Wilder stating: “I don’t want this to stop.

“We don’t want this to stop, we want to keep winning games of football.”

Saturday’s victory over the Chairboys was the third in eight days against promotion rivals, with Town having also won at Leyton Orient and Oxford United.

But now the Cobblers face two games on the road against teams at the other end of the table, with Tuesday’s trip to 22nd-placed York followed by Saturday’s clash at 21st-placed Hartlepool United.

And Wilder is expecting these fixtures to be just as tough for his team.

“We know we have different challenges coming up, and we have difficult challenges coming up, but we have just gone about in our business in a calm fashion,” said the Cobblers boss.

“The publicity surrounding the run is not something for me to talk about, but we know the name of the game, and we know the nature of the game.

“This club has, and will while I am in charge have a low-key existence, and we will go about our business in a professional and solid way.

“That is because of our experience of knowing that if you start shouting about things and telling everybody how well they are doing and how good they are, and what a fantastic achievement it is, it comes back and slaps you round the head.

“For us, it is on to the next challenge and it is a difficult one at York.”

The Cobblers only played York a couple of weeks ago, winning 2-0 at a windswept Sixfields on February 6, but it was a game in which the Minstermen did pose a few problems for Wilder’s men.

“The game against York at Sixfields, the conditions dictated it wasn’t a great game, but it was a tough one for us and we are expecting another tough match on Tuesday night,” said the Cobblers boss.

“I have said before that the pressure of trying to stay in the Football League and maintaining your League status is a big one.

“It hits home after Christmas that ‘wow, yeah, we don’t want to be going out of the League’, and players naturally raise their game, and clubs raise their game.

“York have done that. They had a disappointing result at the weekend but their home record in the past month to six weeks has been right up there with the wins they have got.

“It is a difficult task, but it is one we are looking forward to.”

The Cobblers will be without leading scorer and captain Marc Richards who has been ruled out for four weeks with an Achilles problem.

Striker John Marquis, signed on loan on Monday from Millwall as cover for Richards, could be in line for his first start of his second spell with the Cobblers.

Alfie Potter, who hasn’t featured since damaging his ribs in the win over Accrington on December 28, returned to full training on Monday and could be involved.