Smith: Chukwuemeka has 'massive potential' - he takes the mick out of us in training!

Cobblers striker Harry Smith believes there's still so much more to come from fellow forward Caleb Chukwuemeka.

The 18-year-old, a product of Northampton's academy, has been a regular off the bench this season, scoring against Southampton U21s and Wigan Athletic, but made his first league start at Burton Albion on Saturday.

He linked smartly with Ricky Holmes and Smith as the Cobblers eased to a well-deserved 3-1 victory, and he's been backed to keep improving by an impressed team-mate.

"I've said to Caleb I don't think he realises how good he could be," said Smith. "The kid has massive potential and he's a brilliant talent. You've seen glimpses of it on the pitch but we see it a lot in training and he takes the mick out of some of the defenders at times!

"He fully deserved his start against Burton and he's got a big future. I thought we linked up brilliantly up front. Holmesy also made some fantastic runs and every flick I did he seemed to read, which was nice.

"I've also got to mention Shaun McWilliams because he came in as well. He started a few weeks ago at Plymouth and we haven't seen much of him since but he's trained brilliantly and I thought he was terrific on Saturday. He mopped everything up in midfield and, for me, he was man of the match."

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson that football supporters will be allowed to return in low-risk areas next month.

Speaking before the announcement, Smith said: "I think, at the moment, playing away from home is suiting us and to be honest I think we're probably lucky the crowds aren't allowed in because we haven't been great at home!

"But it would be a different ball-game with our fans behind us. Unfortunately that's not possible at the moment but Saturday was a massive win for us and we'll go to Rochdale bouncing and full of confidence. Hopefully we can get back-to-back wins."