O'Toole relieved to open his account for the season

No player has scored more than O’Toole’s 30 goals for Northampton over the past three campaigns but he’s had to wait to get off the mark this term, initially sitting out of the side under Dean Austin and then failing to net in his first 12 appearances.

But the 30-year-old scored in trademark style on Saturday when, on the hour-mark, he burst into the box and emphatically converted Sam Hoskins’ right-wing cross, handing Town a precious lead and breaking their four-game duck in front of goal.

“I’ve been due a goal,” admitted O’Toole. “I haven’t scored in a while and that’s been frustrating, especially with how things have gone, so it was a big boost to score.

“I want to get a few more. We worked on set-pieces this week and the short corner worked a treat. It was a great ball by Sammy and I managed to get good contact on it.

“It’s good to share with the supporters because it means a lot to them and it means a lot to me.”

A Matty Taylor free-kick special 13 minutes later denied Northampton victory at the County Ground, but O’Toole felt it was a point gained nonetheless, especially given the team’s recent struggles.

He added: “With how things are going at the moment I think you’ve got to look at it as a point gained.

“We’re going through a hard spell at the minute but the last two results have been positive and we’ve shown a lot of good things and we’ve got to build on it.”