Defender Diamond confident Cobblers can tighten up on the road

Town have endured a couple of nightmares in their two most recent trips, with the 5-0 thrashing at Bristol Rovers being followed up by the 5-3 reverse at Milton Keynes Dons.

But with confidence boosted by the team keeping a much-needed clean sheet in last weekend’s comprehensive 3-0 win over Coventry City at Sixfields, Justin Edinburgh’s men travel to Walsall in good heart.

Central defender Zander Diamond has had a close-up view of the Cobblers’ defensive woes on the road, but he insists those problems are now behind the team.

“You have to be confident you can solve everything if there are problems,” said the Scotsman.

“We know we weren’t up to our usual standards in those games, but hopefully that is in the past now.

“We have a great game to look forward to at Walsall, training will be high intensity, and it is full speed ahead to that.

“We can’t affect what has gone beforehand, we can only improve on what’s ahead and hopefully we can do that.”

The Cobblers have been seemingly punished for every error in the past two away games, and Diamond says that is something the players have to accept.

“In football, sometimes you get away with things, sometimes you don’t, and at that stage it seemed like the small deflections were dropping to the opposition, or they were getting the rub of the green,” he said.

“We had it last season, where it felt as though everything fell for us and we were capitalising on it, so it works both ways.

“But you make your own luck and I have been in football long enough to understand that.

“We will be going to Walsall full of confidence, and hopefully build on what we achieved on Saturday.”

The Cobblers were 2-0 winners over Walsall at Sixfields earlier in the season, but Diamond was impressed with the Saddlers.

“I think we saw they were a good side, and although we won it was a hard-fought game,” he said.

“We will be drilled in what the manager wants us to do, and we will hopefully build on the result against Coventry, and keep adding to our points tally.”

The Cobblers could be boosted by the return of Gaby Zakuani after international duty this weekend, and Diamond says it is crucial he and the injured players are back into fold as soon as possible.

“We have Zakuani who has been out, Moloney’s been out, Revell’s out, Hoskins is out, and they would be a miss for any team,” said Diamond.

“We are all pushing in one direction and hopefully we can get the squad back together, and we will have our strength in depth.

“It is all about getting the squad back together, getting that unity, and then continuing that through until the end of the season, that is key.”

Another key to the Cobblers securing their league one safety will be the role of manager Edinburgh, and Diamond has been impressed by the new man, who took over from Rob Page.

“It has been good since he came in,” said Diamond, when asked about the Town boss.

“A new manager obviously comes in with new ideas, and a different philosophy to what the previous manager did, and it is up to us as players to buy into that as quickly as possible.

“In football you don’t get time, and hopefully the majority of players, if not all of them, have bought into it.

“Hopefully the result on Saturday is a guage of what he wants from us, and hopefully we can continue that on in the last 17 games.”