Keith Curle praised the character of his side as he reflected on Tuesday night’s Checkatrade Trophy second round tie at Cambridge United, Kevin van Veen’s late leveller setting up a penalty shoot out which the Cobblers won 4-2 to progress to the area quarter-finals.
“It wasn’t a classic but we showed good endeavour,” he said.
“There is a desire from the players in the changing room to give everything they have got and they showed good character tonight with the late equaliser and then with the penalties.
“We will keep going right to the end and the effort, commitment and the desire is all there, we just need a little bit more creativity and belief.
“I’m trying to boost the confidence of the players and I won’t jump down their throat as long as they are trying to do the right thing. I’m trying to ease them out of their shell.
“We played another system and we gave some more game time to players who needed it. The players coming back from injury or who haven’t been involved need more game time and we are going to try and arrange that in the next few weeks.”