Cobblers boss Hasselbaink says he will have to be flexible over loan players

The Town manager can be very pleased with himself after a month that saw him sign nine new players, and also allow nine to leave to help balance the books.

But the one slight negative to the business done is that three of the signings Hasselbaink made were on loan, and that means there are now six on the books at Sixfields, when only five are allowed to be named in a match day squad.

Boris Mathis became loan number six when he signed on Monday, joining Chris Long, Regan Poole, Matt Grimes, Gboly Ariyibi and Hildeberto Pereira in the Sixfields ranks.

“It is how it is, unfortunately. We couldn’t get around it, even though we tried,” said Hasselbaink, who freed up a loan early in the window when he sent goalkeeper Matt Ingram back to Queens Park Rangers.

The situation means that Hasselbaink, as long as they are fit and available, is going to have to leave one out of the six for every match between now and the end of the season.

It is a similar problem to the one faced by Justin Edinburgh a year ago, and like his predecessor it is going to have to be a case of horses for courses when it comes to which player is left in the stands.

“You have to look at the opposition, who you are playing against, and what you need for that game,” said Hasselbaink.

“We have six loan players, we wanted it different and we had planned it differently, but in this line of work your plans don’t always get fulfilled.

“You will always have to adjust and be flexible, and we will have to be.”

His first decision on who to leave out will come this Saturday in the Sky Bet League One clash with Rochdale at Sixfields.