'We're not here to make the numbers up' - Goode excited for League One challenge

Cobblers captain Charlie Goode says he's 'excited' by the challenge that awaits his side when they start their Sky Bet League One campaign next month.

Town face a step up in quality this season following their promotion from League Two, and the third tier is looking particularly strong this time around.

Several former Premier League clubs will visit the PTS over the coming months, including Sunderland, Ipswich, Hull and Portsmouth, but it's a challenge that Goode relishes.

"This is where the club should be and it's exciting," he said. "There are some clubs in League One who were only in the Premier League a few years back but we want to be mixing with them and it's our chance to show what we're about.

"We're not going to make the numbers up and we don't want to be in League One for just one season, we want to be a hard team to play against and we want to have a real good crack at it."

Goode joined his team-mates for the start of pre-season training this week.

He added: "It's good to be back but I felt pretty knackered after the first day!

"The first few days back in are always going to be hard but we'll get them out the way and get the balls out and back into the swing of things.

"It's actually quite strange because it feels like the final was only yesterday.

"But it's nice to be back and now we're ready to go again. It's good to see my team-mates again, plus a couple of new faces, but the planning for League One starts now.

"It feels different because we were playing not so long ago and that felt like a quick pre-season, but that's just the situation at the moment and we have to get on with it."