I REALISED on Saturday, after a poor performance against Accrington, that we were at the same point as when we re-assessed our approach last year and devised our ‘15-game season’.

We have taken a similar attitude to the final run of games this year as we once again find ourselves at this crucial point of our campaign.

However, the aim this season is to gain promotion rather than securing safety from relegation as we were 12 months ago.

The entire football department endured watching the Accrington game again this week.

There is no doubt that we put in one of our worst performances.

It made for uncomfortable viewing and as a group we all accepted it wasn’t good enough.

It is the first time we have lost two consecutive league games all season and it prompted a very frank and honest meeting on Monday morning.

The outcome was simple – we hadn’t adhered to the standards we outlined at the start of the season and paid a heavy price for it.

A lot of the topics we discussed on Monday were evident in our display at Exeter on Tuesday.

We started the game really well with a lot of intensity and were rewarded with an early goal.

It was a fantastic scoreline and is the third time we have scored four or more goals away from home this season.

I think it demonstrated the determination of the players to return to winning ways.

There were also a few players carrying slight injuries so I was impressed with the way they got through the game.

We have the best away record in the division so far and I feel that this is the ideal week to play two games away from home.

We travel to Wimbledon today for what is going to be a very physical game.

They play at a tight ground, which suits their style of play as they like to get the ball from back to front very quickly.

Kingsmeadow is always a difficult place to go and, with the greatest respect to other teams we are playing in the coming weeks, I think that they will be our toughest test.

Northampton have received all the plaudits for winning their last ten games, but Wimbledon are also on an incredible run, having won seven of their last eight.

What will help today is the magnificent backing we always receive from our travelling fans, who have been a consistent 12th man for us all season.

 

WE welcomed George Waring to the club this week on a month-long loan from Stoke.


He is a player we have been watching for a while and is someone we wanted to bring to the club in January. But he was suffering from a back injury which prevented the move.


He is an important addition with Ryan Taylor out of the side with a long-term groin injury and Danny Hylton on the cusp of a two-game suspension should he receive another booking within the next month. 


George is a very physical player, as anyone who watched him on Tuesday night at Exeter will have seen.


I think the side has felt the loss of Ryan whilst he has been recovering from his injury and George is of the same ilk of player.