Boothroyd admits it would be ‘madness’ not to change Cobblers tactics on the road

And the Town boss admits some of the team’s results on the road this season have been ‘absolutely shocking’.

Northampton play two away games this week with a trip to Morecambe on Tuesday followed by a game at Wycombe Wanderers at the weekend.

Morecambe holds special memories for Boothroyd because it provided the venue for his first win as Cobblers manager, back in January 2012.

But this week it will be the place where he bids to amend an away record that showed signs of improvement in February before a dramatic return to the bad old days in the form of a 3-0 hiding at Exeter City last time out.

“If you look at our results and performances away from home some have been really good and some have been absolutely shocking,” said Boothroyd, whose side have taken 17 points from the 54 available to them on their travels this season.

“I’ve got a different sort of plan for this game, if you keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting it to work then it’s bordering on madness.

“We’ve got to do something different because these games could make all the difference now to where we finish in the table at the end of the season.

“Morecambe will be hurting after the weekend and we are going to have to be at our absolute best defensively on Tuesday night and we are going to have to give them something different offensively.

“I was really irritated after the Exeter game, we always prepare properly but we’ve got to do something different on the pitch at Morecambe.

“The players responded really well on Saturday and we need to take that forward.”

Nerves are starting to show in the race for promotion from league two, especially at Port Vale, who have been in the division’s top two since September 17 but are now just three points above the Cobblers.

Three losses in their past four games have increased the pressure at Vale Park and threatened to open up the race for automatic promotion even further.

At a crunch time of the season - just eight games will be left to play after Tuesday night’s fixtures - Boothroyd feels the team that can best keep their cool will be the one that prospers.

“We’ve got to be at it, make sure that we prepare properly and be ready for every single game,” he said.

“It’s nice to be fighting for automatic promotion, nothing is set in stone and it’s what happens at the end of April that counts.

“We’re going to give it our all and we’re going to make sure that we make it a memorable season.

“We’ve got to enjoy what we are doing and I think it will be the teams that keep calmest in the chaos that are going to be successful.