Lincoln loanee Zach Jeacock ready to be Northampton's new number one

The 25-year-old, who joined on a season-long loan from Lincoln City earlier in the summer, has started all five pre-season friendlies so far and is set begin the 2026/27 campaign as Chris Hogg’s first choice between the sticks.

"I’m just excited to start the season,” said Jeacock. “We have a massive game at Leicester in the cup a week before the first league game and that’ll be a good gauge to test ourselves against a quality team.

"It’s been good so far, I feel I’ve settled in well and the boys have really welcomed me into the group. I have played against quite a few of them in the past, which has made it easier, and then the trip to St George's Park allowed us to spend time together and grow closer as a group.

"As a goalkeeper, my first point of call is James (Alger), the goalkeeping coach, and we’ve already built a really good relationship. He’s a very good goalkeeper coach, he knows his stuff, and I feel I can really improve under him.

"The gaffer and Doigy have been great for the boys, they are driving the standards every day, and I’m sure they will get the best out of us during the season.”

Ross Fitzsimons would have hoped – and perhaps even expected – to be first-choice once Lee Burge left but Hogg quickly moved for Jeacock. And although no one likes sitting on the bench, the competition between those two, and academy goalkeeper James Dadge, appears healthy.

"The goalkeeping union is really good here,” Jeacock added. “Fitzy and James work hard every day in training and we’re pushing each other to the limit and that’s what you want. There’s lots of encouragement between the boys and they’ve made me feel really welcome and a big part of the group since coming in.”

The hectic pre-season schedule, with six friendlies in 22 days, could be seen as a blessing or a curse – but Jeacock believes it’s been a good thing.

"I think the fact we’ve played so many games already is helping us grow as a group,” he continued. "You see where we were against Leicester and where we are now now, and looking at the Southend game, a lot of our principles, in terms of how the gaffer wants us to play and how we should look out of possession, are starting to show.

"There’s no better time to learn about players and build those connections with the boys than in match situations because you can’t replicate that in training and I feel we have really benefited from every game.

"It’s obviously important for me as a goalkeeper to learn how my back four plays and how my centre-backs play and it’s been really nice to be able to play a lot of minutes with the same people in pre-season to build those relationships.

“We’ve already played quite a few minutes together and I’ve been able to really learn a lot about the lads. There’s a few little things that we can always improve on but, as a whole, it’s been really good so far and I feel we’re improving by the game.”

Jeacock conceded twice in four minutes as Birmingham City won 2-0 in what was a competitive and generally quite even friendly at Sixfields on Saturday.

He added: "We were up against a very competitive team in Birmingham but it was good to get more minutes in the legs and come through unscathed. We managed to work on more of our principles in terms of the out of possession stuff and also some stuff in possession.

"We obviously want to be winning games, no one likes losing, but it’s still pre-season and I felt we held our own against a very good Championship team.”