Cobblers boss Keith Curle was delighted as his side made it back-to-back home wins, goals in either half from Andy Williams and Sam Hoskins sealing a 2-0 victory over previously unbeaten Newport County.
“The result and the performance started on Monday,” he said.
“It was a decent enough performance at Bradford but as a follow-up performance to our last home game against Plymouth this was very pleasing.
“You need to stand up to Newport, match their endeavour and then play at the right times. We did that, we played at the right times, we were solid and we were brave.
“We’ve got players who can play and who can open doors but for that our shape has to be right. The two full-backs today were excellent, we matched them in midfield and we caused them problems.
“There were a lot of contributors to the result today.
“I don’t think the league balances itself out until around 16 games, we’ve been competitive in every game and I think the supporters know where we’re at and that we are still building.
“Shaun McWilliams was suffering from chest pains, we spoke to the Club Doctor and thought at half-time he was going to be okay but we told him to tell the medical staff if he had any more problems. The welfare of the players is paramount and he came off as a precaution and we handed him over to the medical staff for checking.”