Kelvin Thomas Q&A: Stunning Cheltenham, reaching the play-off final, 'wonderful' support from fans and not being able to make it to Wembley due to COVID

After coming from 2-0 down to stun the Robins 3-2, Northampton will take on Exeter at Wembley next Monday for a place in League One.

Thomas, who remains in America, gives his thoughts on all that and more here...

How were you feeling after the first leg? Did you still have faith?

It was a challenge! But I did have a strange feeling at times because I thought we would be competitive and I didn't think we were as bad as it was perceived in the first leg after watching the game back. If we had taken our chances, especially the penalty, it could have been different.

Cheltenham were better in that first game but our performance on Monday was just fantastic from the boys and it showed the unity and the togetherness from the squad and the club as a whole.

What did you make of that incredible comeback?

I talked with Keith about the importance of an early goal and you can't underestimate the quality of the first goal we scored because there was some really good football played out wide with Nicky doing what Nick does, putting the ball in the box, and Vadaine finished it off well.

It was a good goal and once that went in, we got a little bit more belief but the level of intensity the boys had was really good to see and they just kept it up for the first-half and then once we scored the second, I felt we could have gone on to score four, five or six.

I felt we steamrolled over Cheltenham a bit and I think they were a bit shell-shocked. I like Cheltenham as a club but the boys did what they needed to do and they came together at just the right time.

They haven't been able to attend but Cobblers fans have shown great support during this period, haven't they?

Absolutely. When I talk about the unity as a club, the fans are a massive part of that. All of our decisions have focused around the fans and our supporters and as a club we're trying to benefit everyone.

We've worked hard to be able to get flags in (supporters will be allowed to display flags in the stands at Wembley) and these are the sort of things that do take a lot of work, especially at a time when the club is understaffed due to the COVID issues.

A lot of effort goes into putting up the flags and doing the Cobbler in the Crowd initiative but it was a wonderful thing and it was great to see and read some of the stories and it means so much to people.

I think one of our fans from our multi-disability group, Chris McDonald (in the Twitter video above), has become quite famous on social media for his reaction to the game on Monday. He was in tears and that sort of thing is what makes it all so worthwhile, to see that level of emotion from fans, and we feel all those emotions at the club as well.

You won't be able to go to Wembley due to the quarantine rules! That must be frustrating?!

Yes and no. Could I have gone? Were there some loopholes? Maybe. But it wouldn't be the right thing to do to find a loophole for me at a time when COVID is still an important part of our lives and it's something we have to be careful of.

It wouldn't be the right thing for me to find a loophole just to watch a football match, so it's one of those things. It goes along with how we've dealt with all of this and how we'll deal with it between now and Monday.

We made a strong decision at the start to take part in the play-offs and we made a decision that we were going to hit everything head on and whatever comes at us, we'll face. And if it means I can't go to the game and the families and the fans can't be there, it's disappointing but we're going to move on and we're going to try and do what we're supposed to do and that's win the next football match.

We're positive thinkers. It's disappointing, like for everybody, but hopefully we can get the result and that disappointment will quickly go away.

Are you confident Cobblers can do the business against Exeter?

It'll be a tough game because Exeter are a good side. I know their CEO very well, we're good friends, so we have a good relationship with them as a club.

I watched a bit of their game against Colchester and they did well to come back themselves so they'll fancy it, but as I said to the players on Zoom yesterday, if you play like you did on Monday, you'll give anyone a good game.