THE LEAGUE IS THE PRIORITY
Cup distractions now dispensed with, you'll hear a lot of managers, players and even journalists talking about a renewed focus on league football.
This has always been the case with Northampton, who, as a glance at Coca-Cola League One will tell you, are now firmly entrenched in mid-table obscurity - or security, depending on how you look at it.
From this point, a win is likely to prompt talk of the play-offs and a defeat mutterings of relegation. The shrewder observers will know that it will take a prolonged run of either for one of those situations to develop.
It's refreshing that in these days of short-term thinking there are still those that see the long game. I'm sure Gianfranco Zola and Luis Felipe Scolari, two managers who are laughably already under pressure, would love to have such patience in their corner.
