Striker Rose says confidence is blooming as Cobblers head to Crewe

Town bounced back from the disappointment of last Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at the hands of Doncaster Rovers by winning 2-1 at Exeter City in the Papa John’s Trophy on Tuesday.

That win took Keith Curle’s men into the last 16 of the competition, and strengthened what has been a decent run of form in recent weeks.

The reverse at the hands of Doncaster, in a match where Shaun McWilliams was sent-off after just 18 minutes, is Town’s only defeat in their past six matches.

And Rose, who netted his third goal in Cobblers colours when scoring the first against the Grecians, says a trip to Gresty Road holds no fears for him or his team-mates.

“We feel like we are in good form,” said the former Mansfield Town man.

“We have had one defeat in six and the defeat came in a game where we went down to 10 men.

“So we are in decent form and we will go into Saturday’s game against Crewe in good spirits.

“We can travel full of confidence and see what happens.”

The Crewe game is the first of three in eight days before a week-long playing break before Christmas.

The intensity soon kicks in again from Boxing Day onwards mind as Town then play three games in seven days, but Rose says the team is relishing what this season is throwing at them.

“There is a good spirit at the club and it is a team effort,” he said.

“With so many games this season it is an odd one because so many games are being crammed into a small amount of time.

“We are going to need everyone, we needed everyone on Tuesday, like we are going to need everyone on Saturday and also in the games after that. It is going to be a busy time and a busy Christmas, but we are looking forward to it.

“We have got a good run of form and we can go into Saturday with confidence and then the run of games after that as well.”

Looking back on the win over Exeter, Rose added: “It was a good team performance. I thought on the whole we looked solid defensively.

“I was disappointed we allowed them to equalise, but I thought we looked strong going forward and defensively we looked strong during the game.”

Rose admitted he was happy to get back on the scoresheet with a first-half header, but his celebrations were subdued.

So why was that?

“It is just so strange without our fans being here. I can’t really put my finger on it,” said the striker, who turned 27 on Thursday.

“Don’t get me wrong, it is always good to score, but with no fans in the ground it just doesn’t feel the same and you can’t really share that emotion with them.

“Hopefully, soon when I do score then I will put in a celebration!”