Satisfied Wilder praises players' attitude after Cobblers go top

Northampton were knocked out of the FA Cup by MK Dons on Tuesday but their relentless league form showed no sign of easing up on Saturday when they notched a comfortable 3-1 win over Morecambe, making it 10 wins from 11 league games.

On top of that, the Cobblers are back at the League Two summit with previous leaders Plymouth only managing to salvage a late draw at fellow promotion chasers Bristol Rovers.

That result, coupled with Oxford’s win at Portsmouth, means Town are now 11 points clear of fourth place.

“It’s another big three points for us especially after the two weeks we’ve had with the two cup games and the game at Dagenham,” said Wilder after Saturday’s win.

“We had to maker sure that we were right for this game as a group of players because as everybody knows we took 7,000 supporters down the road and we can’t just expect to turn up here and win games of football.

“Three points are precious and really hard to gain at this level so you have to work hard and really earn them and I thought the boys’ attitude were really professional today.”

On the game itself, which saw James Collins, John-Joe O’Toole and Rod McDonald all on target, Wilder added: “I thought we started off the game really well. We controlled possession and I thought the front four were very good, positive and I was happy we went in 2-0 up.

“We didn’t start the second half as well as we would have liked but we settled ourselves down when we got the third.

“We possibly should have taken the game away from them but we didn’t and we talked about how dangerous opposition they are and their attitude to the game because they never give in

“Even at 3-0 their manager was urging them to keep going and we’ve really gifted them a goal which is disappointing because the centre-half has to be stronger than that.

“But it’s another important three points.”