Wilder determined to '˜smash' Cobblers' 21-match unbeaten run record

Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Exeter City saw Town stretch their unbeaten run to 20 matches, and they will equal the record set by Graham Carr’s 1986/87 team if they avoid defeat in Tuesday night’s Sixfields date with Crawley Town.

Wilder not only wants to match that record though, he wants to surpass it, as well as beat the 87 team’s record points haul of 99.

With four games of the season remaining and 12 points up for grabs, the Cobblers are on 89 points after a run of four straight draws, so that means there is no room for error if they want to hit the 100 mark, and Wilder is in bullish mood.

Asked if he wants to beat the club record for an unbeaten run, the Cobblers boss said: “We want to smash that record.

“We have made it a little bit difficult to get to 100 points by drawing the past four games, but that has to be a target of ours as well.

“To do that we have to win games of football, and if we don’t reach that we will still be going for wins.”

The current Cobblers team has already set three new club records this season by recording a record 10 straight league wins, a record eight consecutive away wins and a record 14 away matches without a defeat.

They are chasing more, and Wilder said: “These records come when you are doing the stuff that our players are doing.

“We have ticked off promotion, we have ticked off the championship, and we now want to tick off keeping that unbeaten run right through to the end of the season.

“We want to do that by adding some wins and if we can get to that 100 point barrier, that would be great.

“We understand we are going to have to overcome some big games, whether it’s Crawley, Yeovil, Luton Town or Portsmouth, and some tough opposition.

“The run in has been quite difficult with some of the teams we have played, they have all been in good form, so to come through that period unbeaten is still great form.”

There is no question of Northampton stepping off the gas now they have promotion and the title in the bag, and Wilder says there will be no resting of players.

“It is not a charity, and we will put our strongest side out there to go and win a game of football,” said the Cobblers boss.

“We will assess it before and look at players, but there is no way we are going to change our mentality.

“I have said all along, from the moment we came back for pre-season, it has been about a winning mentality and this has been a winning football club in everything we have done.

“That’s not just on a Saturday afternoon or a Tuesday night, it’s been about pre-season, reserve games, training games and training sessions.

“We have drilled that into them. We talk about the character of the team, and that has been one of the biggest things, the winning mentality of this group of players.

“They go out and they want to win, and then next they don’t want to get beat.

“We will be going all out to win the game on Tuesday night and show the qualities that we have shown all season.”