Willis wants to earn longer term contract at Cobblers after debut

Cobblers defender Jordan Willis hopes to earn himself a longer term deal at Sixfields after making his debut for the club against Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.

The 29-year-old centre-back joined Northampton on a free transfer earlier this month, penning a short-term contract until January, but he hopes to impress enough to extend his stay.

"That’s the plan,” said Willis after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat. “I have a deal until January at the moment and I want to get in as many games as possible between now and then, try and impress, and hopefully earn a contract until the end of the season at least.

"It was good to get out there and get my first 45 minutes. Hopefully I can kick on and get more minutes and bring what I can to the team and help win us more points.

"I’m probably not quite at full match fitness but I’m doing extra work to build up towards it and if I’m needed to start, I feel ready and I’m more than happy to do so."

Cobblers failed to overturn a 2-0 half-time deficit on Saturday but Willis came on at the break did well in a much improved second half.

He added: "It was much better in the second half. In the first half we were below par but we came out after half-time and we imposed ourselves on them a bit more and played the style of football we want to play.

“We were chasing the game and the way we played in the second half meant the outside centre halves were able to step in a bit more and play in the opposition’s half but that’s a role I’ve done before and I’m more than happy to do it. I’ve also played right-back before so I felt comfortable out there and if I’m needed to do that role again, I’m more than happy to do so.

"You could say we were unfortunate not to get something from the game but we can’t perform like we did in the first half and expect to win the game."

Willis believes Cobblers have more than enough to stay in League One, adding: "We’re definitely good enough to survive in this league and I think we’ve shown that, definitely in the time I’ve been here. Some results haven’t gone our way but we definitely have the ability to do well. We just need to play the way we play and make sure we tighten things up in both boxes.