Cobblers boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink previews Saturday’s home game against in-form Blackburn Rovers.
“Blackburn are promotion candidates and we know that they are a good team but every match in this league is a test,” he said.
“They are going well at the moment and even if they don’t play well they are capable of grinding out results.
“We have to do both sides of the game really well on Saturday, both with the ball and our organisation. We have to work harder than them.
“We are at home and we need to make it very difficult for teams coming here. It shouldn’t matter who is in front of you there needs to be that same level of commitment.
“It was a really good performance last Saturday in both halves and I’ve probably not given the players enough credit for the second half. We didn’t create a lot in the second half but neither did they and we were very professional in seeing the game out.
“The energy and commitment was good, at times the final pass could be better but we were on the front foot a lot more.
“It helped that the crowd were with us, of course we need to get the supporters going ourselves but it is so much better when the crowd give us that energy. Yes you need to earn it but when we have that it stimulates the players even more.”