Cobblers boss Boothroyd backing Morris to excel against former club Torquay

And, on the eve of the game against the Gulls, Boothroyd also issued a reminder that he was keen to keep Ben Harding, who will turn out for the visitors at Sixfields on Saturday (3pm ko).

Morris swapped Torquay for Northampton in the close season despite having six months left on his deal, while Harding rejected new terms to make the move in the opposite direction.
The two are likely to come head to head in midfield this weekend as Town go in search of a second successive home win to alleviate the setbacks suffered on their travels, where they are yet to pick up a point.

“Ben (Harding) and Luke (Guttridge) did very very well for us last year and in the end I made decisions that we wanted to keep them,” said Boothroyd.

“But Luke has gone on and got himself a better deal and a longer term deal and good luck to him.

“Ben Harding has done the same thing so they’ve taken a risk and they’ve gone on to other clubs, I do wish them well, in Ben’s case especially after Saturday.

“In Ian Morris’ case I think he’s going turn out to be a really good player for this club.

“I think he brings a balance to us that we’ve not had before in terms of we can overload our midfield and give Chris (Hackett) a little bit more license to attack and get more out of him from an offensive point of view.

“We can give him the ball and we’ve also got the added options of being able to play three in midfield with Ian now. I’m really pleased with what I’ve seen from Ian.”