SAMPSON WARY OF DARLINGTON'S 'FREEDOM'
Ian Sampson says he is wary of the threat that Darlington will pose at Sixfields and that neither players nor supporters should expect anything less than a tough game.
"Darlington come here under no real pressure and their result against Bury on Tuesday night just shows what a difficult game it will be," he said.
"I'm sure they will come and play with a real freedom but if we keep to the standards that we have set over the last three months then I'm sure we can come away with a positive result.
"We are trying to get into the play-offs, that brings its own pressure but hopefully the players have got the bottle to handle that. Confidence is high and we are playing some decent stuff at the moment so long may that continue.
"Our immediate aim is to try and get into that seventh spot and if results go our way this weekend we could be in there come Saturday evening.
"Initially our aim was to consolidate our position in the top half of the table but we have now got something else to aim for and that's to get into seventh position.
"To get into the play-offs we have to win games - draws are no good to us - and I'm sure you will see quite a lot of attacking football from now until the end of the season.
"Hopefully the confidence that we've picked up from our results away from home will be replicated here at Sixfields. We won our last home game so hopefully we can build on that against Darlington.
"I don't know why we have picked up better results away from home but hopefully the win against Cheltenham will be the result that turns it around for us.
"Saturday is a big game for us but if we go out there with the right attitude and play at the right tempo then hopefully we will get the three points which will then set us up nicely for the next game.
"I think the players know that they have got to work hard to win any game and they know that they can't just turn up and expect to win. They need to first match the work rate of the opposition and then hopefully the talent that they've got and the football that they can play will shine through in the end."
