'Special feeling' to score for 'club close to my heart' - Briggs

Born and bred in Northampton, and still living in the town now, the 20-year-old curled home a delightful effort on 36 minutes to finally get Cobblers off the mark for the season.

"I’m very pleased to score and it’s about time,” he said. “I knew it was heading for the corner as soon as the ball left my foot. It was a great moment for me to get my first senior goal and hopefully we can kick-on into next week and the rest of the season. I’m looking forward to scoring a few more.”

Briggs has been among the most impressive of Northampton’s summer signings so far.

"I love it here,” he continued. “I’m from Northampton and it’s a club close to my heart – I can see the ground from my house!

"To score my first professional goal is obviously a special feeling anyway but to score it for Northampton makes it 10 times better.

"I’ve settled in really well and we have such a great group of lads and I think we will do some really good things this season.

"It might take a bit of time but once it clicks, I think we’ll be a really strong team."

Briggs’ goal came at an important time for Town, who were struggling to establish a foothold after being rocked by Conor McManus’ early header.

Briggs added: "I felt we needed it at that point in the game because it shifted the momentum back towards us and it was a good time to score.

"We showed good character and I think we have a lot of spirit in the team, we stuck together, but we want more and we’re not settling for this because there’s a lot more in us and that’s what we spoke about in the changing room afterwards.

"In the end it’s a good point and it’s a starting point for us, but there’s definitely more goals to come from myself and the rest of the team.

"We’re looking forward to being back at Sixfields this week, the fans were great again, and hopefully we can give them that first win.”