Boothroyd not worried as Cobblers bookings begin to mount up

YELLOW PERIL - Joe Widdowson is booked against Oxford (picture: Sharon Lucey)

Joe Widdowson collected his 13th booking of the campaign in the 1-0 defeat at Cheltenham on Monday and two more will mean he will serve a three-match suspension.

Clarke Carlisle and Ishmel Demontagnac have both been shown eight yellow cards and would miss two games if either collects two more before the threshold of Sunday April 14.

Those are the only players close to missing any games through accrued bookings and while that could present Boothroyd with a selection issue or two, he is happy to have players with such qualities of commitment in his squad.

“Each case is different but it is usually the situation that the player in question is being overenthusiastic and wanting to win the ball,” he said.

“That can create an issue but it’s a nice problem for me to have as a manager, having to calm people down.

“You’d much rather that was the case than having to put a rocket under people to get them going a little bit.

“Having said that I will speak to the players who are close to suspensions and that is something we will address.

“I always look at the players who are on lots of bookings on opposing teams and teams will be doing that to us, so we need to bear it in mind.”

Saturday’s game at Bradford is a difficult one but Boothroyd is confident going into it and feels his side has made improvements to their away form.

The loss at Cheltenham on Easter Monday was a 10th for the team on their travels but the manager saw signs that things have got better at Whaddon Road and takes encouragement from that performance into the weekend.

“We were terrific in the second half at Cheltenham and if we play like that we will be successful this year,” he said.

“The goal was very disappointing for us, it is not like us to concede like that from a set-piece and the manner of it is what disappoints me.

“What we have to do is use it as a wake-up call. Our final ball needs to be better but having said that we scored a perfectly good goal that was not given.

“I’ve seen it again and it was a legal goal but they even themselves out and we’ll see on that one.”