Cobblers boss Keith Curle praised the application of his players as he previewed Saturday’s trip to Oldham Athletic.
“The application of the players has maintained our recent high standards,” he said.
“Collectively I think we are getting more and more people on the same page. It does take time when you have such a big turn around in players over the summer and then with the various injuries and suspensions we’ve had but we are getting there.
“After about 16 games I think the league does start to sort itself into a top, middle and bottom section but that’s not to say you won’t see movement between those sections because you undoubtedly will.
“Personally I think we should be higher up the league than we are but every manager in the league will probably say that apart from the team that is sat top.
“Oldham can score goals and I think the manager who has gone in there has started to settle on a shape. They’ve had a good couple of results but I’d imagine they might tweak a few things for Saturday as might we.
“I think the players know we have a management team that is brave enough to make changes and that’s not to adjust to the opposition but if we think we’ve identified a weakness that we can exploit then that’s what we will look to do.”