Carlisle defends Cobblers style and declares: ‘We are not just a set-piece team’

The central defender, who will again captain the side in Saturday’s npower League Two showdown with York City at Sixfields, is well aware that the majority of pundits as well as opposition managers and fans regard the Cobblers as a very direct team.

They are seen as a team that relies on corners and Ben Tozer’s laser-like long throw for the majority of their goals.

And although it is true that a high percentage of the Cobblers’ goals this season have come from set pieces, Carlisle says Town are about much more than that, and that the team possess plenty of threat from open play as well through the likes of Adebayo Akinfenwa, Roy O’Donovan, Chris Hackett, Clive Platt and Ishmel Demontagnac, who will miss the weekend match with a hamstring strain.

“We have got a plethora of (attacking) talent within our squad,” said Carlisle.

“We have B (Akinfenwa) who destroys centre-halves, but then surprises them with a turn of pace, he surprises me on a daily basis. Surely it defies physics that that man can move at that pace!

“We have Platty who does a similar job to B aerially, and is also a fantastic target man for bringing in and linking the midfielders and the wing men.

“We have Roy O’Donovan who is just a pest, but a pest with outstanding ability on the ball and a work ethic that I think will take him very, very far in the game.

“Ish (Demontagnac) is tackling like a full-back, he is aggressive, but he also has the quality to attack his defender one-v-one, take them on supply crosses.

“Hacks on the other side does the same, but can also come inside and shoot and hit the target.

“So we are not just a set-piece side.

“The set-pieces add to the talents we have, and I think that’s why teams struggle to deal with us, because if plan A doesn’t work, then plan B or plan C might.”