It's all about the future for Cobblers striker Williams

Even by their high standards though, this week has been manic. On Saturday they were thrashed at Mansfield, on Sunday Dean Austin lost his job, on Monday Keith Curle was appointed and on Tuesday his first game ended in a goalless draw against Bury.

At least the rest of the week should be quieter, although you can never be quite so sure given recent events.

Williams was one of only four players to be signed by Austin during the summer and he admits he feels a sense of responsibility for the former manager’s downfall.

“I’ve got a lot of time and respect for the old gaffer,” he said. “He brought me to the club and I felt as a group we let him down, but that’s gone now and going forward it’s up to us to prove we’re worthy of wearing the shirt.

“We showed on Tuesday the type of performance we can put in. Northampton Town is a good club to play for and we all came here for a reason and it wasn’t to be at the bottom of league two, that’s for sure, so it’s up to us to do something about it.”

Tuesday’s stalemate left Cobblers level on points with the league two drop zone but the performance offered hints of encouragement as Curle quickly made his mark.

The switch to 3-5-2 and his decision to drop five players following Saturday’s mauling, including David Buchanan and Kevin van Veen, fitted in line with his reputation of a man who won’t shirk making brave and bold decisions.

Williams was one player to benefit as he came back in and led the line alongside Sam Hoskins, but both men were guilty of missing chances as Town recovered well from a nervous start.

“It’s a decent result,” said Williams. “We had to stop the rot after the weekend and a lot has changed in the last week.

“It’s not an easy situation but we had to go out there and show everyone in the crowd and the new gaffer what we can do because we didn’t do that at the weekend.

“I think we put it right. We deserved to win and we had some good chances but it’s a step in the right direction and hopefully we can build on it because we haven’t done that in the past.

“We played a shape we haven’t worked on. We had a brief chat with the manager and, considering that, I think it was a good point and the way we played was positive.”

For both Williams and his new manager, the key to success will be improving their fortunes in the final third.

While the former Doncaster man still waits for his first goal for the club, Town themselves have only netted once – and that from the penalty spot – in the past six games.

The 32-year-old will be hoping to break his duck this weekend when he returns to former club Swindon.

“I’ll keep getting in there,” he continued. “I’ve been working hard on my game and hopefully people could see I was a bit sharper on Tuesday.

“I had three years at Swindon so there’ll be a lot of emotions for me going back but it won’t matter come the game.

“It’s always tricky scoring against your former team. I celebrate my goals, especially if I get my first one for the Cobblers, but it’s hard because they paid my wages and supported me for three years.

“I hope they respect that I’m now employed by Northampton and if I do finally break my duck against them I want to show Cobblers fans that I can celebrate!”