Stuart Gray was full of praise for his players after seeing his Cobblers side win 2-0 at Walsall on Saturday.

"It was a fantastic win for us and I think it's a win that our performance thoroughly deserved," he said.

"The mood in the dressing room is great at the moment and the pleasing thing was that you could really see what it meant to the players to keep a clean sheet.

"We tired a little bit right at the end but the players put their bodies on the line when they needed to.

"It was a great goal from Bayo to open the scoring and it came just after we could have gone 1-0 down. Bayo used his strength fantastically to win the ball and it was a great lob. Bayo's ball retention was fantastic and you know with him that if he gets a chance in front of goal more often than not he will take it.

"He'd be the first to admit that he's not fully fit yet but he is getting fitter and stronger with every game he plays.

"We brought him off as a bit of a precaution after the second goal with our game at Bristol Rovers on Wednesday very much in mind.

"Jason Crowe came off with a hamstring injury and we will have to assess that in the week. Mark Hughes picked up his tenth booking of the season and he will now miss the two games after Bristol Rovers.

"Chris Doig is still a few weeks away but we don't want to take any risks with him and the good thing is with the position we are in at the moment means that we don't have to rush him back.

"Overall I felt that we were always in control of the game and we probably just adapted to the conditions a bit better than Walsall did.

"Walsall are really motoring themselves at the moment and this is a fantastic place to come and get a result.

"Every single player put in a great shift, Danny Jackman once again showed his real versatility in switching to right wing-back when Crowe went off and Gabor Gyepes was excellent again. He plays the game with a great calmness and he reads the play so well.

"We are clawing ourselves a little bit closer to the top six but the most important thing is that we've now got to go to Bristol Rovers and get a result there.

"I've always said that this month is going to be a real acid test for us but I've told the players you have got to enjoy it when you play the top teams.

"The atmosphere amongst the players in the dressing room is fantastic at the moment but I've challenged them to now keep this run going against Bristol Rovers."

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