King backs himself to keep the shirt over Burge - but his main aim is to help Cobblers win promotion

New signing Tom King is fully prepared for the battle to be Cobblers’ number one goalkeeper when Lee Burge returns from injury.

Burge had not missed a minute of league action for Town this season before suffering a calf injury against Salford City. He came off at half-time at Moor Lane before sitting out the trip to Stockport County, after which manager Jon Brady confirmed he faces a period on the sidelines.

The club acted swiftly when securing a deal for King from Salford on a contract until the end of the season last week. He was straight into the team and now looks set to be Brady’s first-choice, at least until Burge is fit again.

"I see Lee Burge as great competition,” said the experienced 27-year-old. “He's been great with me for the last 48 hours, the same for Jonny Maxted, so we have a good group, not just the goalkeepers but the outfield players as well.

"I've done it my whole career – I've faced challenges and I've faced strong competition everywhere I've gone, right from my debut at Millwall all the way through to Salford when Alex Cairns came in a couple of weeks ago.

"I thought I could compete with him but the manager saw it a different way so now I'm ready to compete here and I think Burgey understands that and he understands it's the nature of the game.

"At the end of the day, the end goal for both of us is promotion. If one of us gets in the team and can keep 12 clean sheets between now and the end of the season, it will get us to where we want to be.

"Whether that's him or whether that's me, we are a team and we are a group of 25, 30 lads, we need everyone to get around each other and achieve our end goal.”

King endured a disappointing debut as Cobblers were beaten 2-0 by Stockport County, although there was little he could do about either goal. Instead, Town’s frustration largely laid at the other end of the pitch where they missed several good chances at key moments.

"The message in the dressing room was that we dominated for an hour,” said a positive King. “Their goalkeeper has made two very good saves which you can't account for and I think the one in the first-half is a game-changer.

"There were a couple of refereeing decisions as well but that's football at the end of the day. The message is that we are still well on track for where we want to be this season and we are fully focused on what's ahead of us, not what's behind us.”