Northampton Town Football Club

Cobblers boss Aidy Boothroyd has called on his players to 'man up and stop feeling sorry for ourselves' ahead of Saturday’s trip to Plymouth, a game the Cobblers are 12/5 to win.

“We are getting to the stage now where the players have got to step up,” he said.

“I was disappointed and irritated last Saturday because we are a lot better than that, we’ve got some senior players in the team and it’s time for them and us the management team to step up and start putting some points on the board.

“We’ve got to go on a run but what we’ve got to do first is win a game.

“Plymouth will not be easy, John Sheridan is re-building things there and it’s never easy going to Plymouth but these are the challenges that you get week in week out in League Two.

“We’ve got to go there and make sure that we are competitive, play on the front foot and give Plymouth one or two things to worry about, not be gung ho but after Saturday I think it’s very important that we give a good account of ourselves.

“Looking at the league table irritates and upsets me, I know there are reasons for why we are where we are but at the end of it we have got to win games.

“That’s what we are all here for and I think with the quality of players that we’ve got here we’ve got to be doing better than what we are.

“We should be looking for two wins from these next two games, we should be looking to put points on the board and we should be looking to stop feeling sorry for ourselves.

“I don’t like the way the table looks at the moment and neither do the players but thankfully we are the ones who can do something about it.

“This is not where I want to be and it’s not where I expect us to be and yes there are reasons but we are 14 games in now and it’s time to get on with it.

“We are underachieving there is no doubt about that and nobody is more irritated than me with the position that we are in because our team on paper is a good team but it’s on the grass where it counts and that’s where we’ve got to start doing it.”