Boothroyd says Northampton Town have to be away-day ‘assassins’

Boothroyd’s team have taken four points from their two most recent road trips, a 2-1 win at Southend United and a 1-1 draw at AFC Wimbledon comprising that haul.

This weekend they face a team just three points below them in the npower League Two play-off places in what could prove to be a pivotal game as the season enters its penultimate month.

The squad headed down to Devon today (Fri) and Boothroyd wants them to adopt a stealth-like approach as they complete a trio of long trips to the south-west.

“We are trying to have a different mind-set in terms of how we play and how we approach away games,” said Boothroyd.

“Our away form will be vital to our chances of automatic promotion this season.

“We’ve got to go into these games looking to be assassins and be sensible about what we do.

“In a lot of the games recently we have had to play the conditions and that is something we will have to do at Exeter as well.

“The weather is changing now, we actually had a bit of sun the other day, and the pitches will be changing as a result.

“We need to bear that in mind and accommodate it.”

While the Cobblers’ away form has improved marginally, their returns at home have been as consistent as ever.

Nine of the past 10 matches on Sixfields soil have been won by Northampton and although the initial feeling was they were fortunate to beat Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night, Boothroyd saw it differently after a repeated viewing.

“I watched a DVD of the game again on Wednesday and I thought we played a lot better than I actually did at the time,” he said.

“We mixed our plays up really well and I thought we thoroughly deserved the victory.

“Their goalkeeper kept them in at several moments and we were very strong on our set plays.”