The Cobblers boss happy as he confirms Alex Nicholls will receive contract offer
Chris Wilder was pleased with the way his squad came through a difficult away trip to Eastleigh on Friday night.
"Pre-season was designed for a lot of things, and one thing was that we wanted a really tough test, especially our last one," he said.
"We wanted Friday to be as tough as next week which it was, and I’m delighted.
"We had two or three opportunities where we possibly should have stretched our lead, the team was quite a mixed team but their attitude yet again was superb.
"I was delighted with John-Joe O’Toole’s goal and his all-round contribution yet again was quality, and just look at the lads we left out – Richards, Hackett, Ravenhill and Carter.
"I think we've had an excellent pre-season but we’ll only know for sure next Saturday. You want to win your first game and we’ll go all out to win but we know it’s a nine month season so we won’t get ahead of ourselves.
"There’s a lot of quality sides in there, but all I can ask for is the lads to give me everything, as they have in pre-season.
"We’ll now pick a side to go against Mansfield, I've got a committed group of players who all want to do well for themselves and each other."
The Cobblers boss also confirmed that Alex Nicholls will be offered a contract this coming week, having come through pre-season successfully.