Johnson feels Fleetwood need to score the first goal against Cobblers

Fleetwood boss Lee Johnson feels it’s essential that his side ‘land the first punch’ in Saturday’s vital game against the Cobblers at Sixfields.

The Cod Army sacked Scott Brown after a poor start to the season before Johnson’s arrival sparked an immediate improvement.

However, Fleetwood remain in the League One relegation zone and have lost their last four games in all competitions, conceding 13 goals in the process.​ They were beaten 4-0 by managerless Cambridge United in the FA Cup last weekend before going down 3-0 at Derby County in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy on Tuesday.

"We have to do the fundamentals so much better,” said Johnson. “We made schoolboys errors for the first two goals against Derby and as a manager you’re thinking that you shouldn’t have to coach those things at this level.

"But we have to go back to real basics and what we need to do now is to shift our focus onto two things. One is the Northampton game on Saturday because it’s an opportunity to get out of the relegation zone and we will have to fight and scrap for every ball and we've got to have belief and we’ve got to have confidence.

"Then we need to make moves in January, it’s as simple as that, because I’ve given three, four and even five chances to some of these lads.

"Some are doing well but others need a bit of help and we need to be together going into the game on Saturday because we have to land the first punch and score the first goal. If we do that, you’ll see a bit of confidence and belief flow back into the players.”