ON THE CASE: Success is still in the Cobblers' and Saints' hands, admiration for the travelling fan, and please think before you type on social media

Both teams were clear and in control at half-time of their respective games against Walsall and Bristol Bears.

Come full-time though, both were licking their wounds and wondering what went wrong as Walsall hit back from 2-0 down to beat the Cobblers 3-2 at the Bescot Stadium, and the Bears bit back from 14-0 down to see off the Saints 20-14 at a stunned Franklin's Gardens.

Town's loss was their fourth on the spin in all competitions, while the Saints was their second in a row, and their second in a row on home soil.

There's no doubt the results were disappointing, and potentially damaging, and there will have been plenty of moans and groans among both groups of supporters following those losses.

But this is not the time to be thinking doom and gloom, or to be wanting drastic action to be taken, because both Cobblers and Saints still have a great chance to achieve their ambitions for this season.

The Cobblers may have slipped out of the play-offs, but it is only on goal difference, and with 13 games of the season remaining, it is still in their own hands to get into that top seven come the end of the campaign.

Saints are in even better shape as they sit second in the Gallagher Premiership table, still realistic contenders to finish top of the pile ahead of the end-of-season play-offs, never mind the top four.

Of course, pessimistic fans of both clubs will be looking at the table and be thinking of chances missed and what might have been if recent results had gone their way, but the bottom line is, those matches are gone, there is nothing that can be done about them.

What both the Cobblers and Saints, and their thousands of loyal supporters, have to do is now concentrate on what lies ahead.

Both teams have been good enough to get where they are at this stage, and there has to be the belief that they can finish the season with a flourish and get where they want to be, and where we all want them to be.

It has been a bad couple of weeks, no question about that, but as the old saying goes, a league campaign is a marathon not a sprint, and it is time to stay positive, get behind the players, and to keep the faith...

I stepped away from the usual comforts of watching from the press box to enjoy a rare away day on the terraces last weekend, as I headed to the Bescot Stadium to watch the Cobblers take on Walsall.

We all know how the match panned out of course, but despite that bitter, late pill, I had a great time.

The trip also raised my already high admiration for the fans who follow the Cobblers all over the country.

There's not a lot of glamour involved when it comes to following league two football, and for almost 900 fans to make a 120-mile round trip to turn out on a filthy day in the west midlands was a great effort.

To then go through the highs and lows of being 2-0 up before losing 3-2, it meant if was an afternoon of massive frustration.

There were plenty of supporters who weren't happy, obviously, and let off some steam at the final whistle, but the vast majority of the support seemingly took the late heartbreak in their stride and will dust themselves off and do it all again next time... because that is what they do, and fair play to them for that.

The club is lucky to have such a loyal and enthusiastic support, and I suppose days like last Saturday just make those ones where things go right all the more special!

Here's hoping for a lot of special days between now and the end of the campaign.

Staying with the match at Walsall and some of those unhappy supporters I mentioned, there was plenty of stick flying around on social media following the defeat at the Bescot.

As always seems to be the case nowadays when things go awry, the blame game kicks in full scale on Twitter, Facebook, message boards or whatever may be the angry supporter's platform of choice.

Now, I am not against criticism of any team, manager or player, and every fan has their right to an opinion as we all do, but it is when that criticism crosses into irrational personal abuse that it becomes an issue.

If you think Joe Bloggs played poorly, fine, say Joe Bloggs had a bad game, you can even say Steve Bloggs should play in his place, or whatever.

But don't make it a personal attack and don't be abusive.

A football player, manager, or anybody else for that matter, doesn't deserve that.

Some might read that last sentence and the current on trend word 'snowflake' will spring to mind.

They might just dismiss it as banter, and think what they have typed out in a fit of rage on Twitter will have no damaging effect.

Well, former Cobblers midfielder Joel Byrom, a member of the 2016 title-winning team, went public on how such abuse affected him directly this week.

In his regular column for The Comet newspaper, Byrom, who now plays for Town's Sky Bet League Two rivals Stevenage, and following the news of the TV presenter's Caroline Flack's death last weekend, he felt the time was right to speak out on how such abuse can affect people.

Byrom wrote: "I have been wanting to write something on this subject for a while but after the weekend's events it feels like now is the right time.

"Normally in a football season when I am fit and available I stay away from reading comments online after games. I just find it easier to not look at anything after a game whether it's good or bad.

"This season I've found myself being drawn into reading them regularly and it's shocked me at some of the things I've read.

"Some comments I see are just personal and nasty. It is a small minority but it's that small minority that might have a massive effect on someone's health in the long run.

"I know you think these comments won't be read, but as players sometimes these comments just fall into our laps without wanting to see them... This is not going to give a player the confidence to go out into the next game and produce his best knowing that people are just waiting for his next mistake.

"I have been on the receiving end of this numerous times in my career and it's something I've had to learn to deal with after previously struggling with it. I used to read everything, just hoping the next comment would be a nice one. It affected my confidence and form for a while.

"If just one person reads this and it changes the way they think before they write something negative from behind a keyboard or a phone screen, then I've helped."

So there you go.

Fair play to Byrom for saying exactly how the many footballers feel, and hopefully it will make people stop and consider what they are typing the next time they feel like venting their spleen.

Yep, the next time you want to have an abusive blast at somebody on Twitter and think it' s'just banter' and is 'harmless', just take a few seconds and take a deep breath.

Think about what you are doing, and what it may mean for the unfortunate person on the other end of your attack, and imagine how you would feel if somebody was sending what you are writing to you, or to somebody close to you... that should ensure you quickly press delete.