Boothroyd: Resilience and flexibility will be vital at Southend

GOOD DAY OUT - the Cobblers' win at Southend on February 16 was their final away-day victory of the regular season

Town head to Roots Hall on the back of their first league win of the season and looking for a substantial improvement on the away form that undermined their automatic promotion bid last year.

Southend was the venue for the team’s final away win of the 2012-13 campaign’s regular fixture list, although they did win at Cheltenham Town in the play-off semi-finals.

So far this season, Northampton have already been beaten on their travels, losing 1-0 at York City, a game in which Boothroyd lined the team up in the 4-5-1 system that is his preference for away games.

The tactic may be used again this weekend, albeit with on-loan Leicester striker Jacob Blyth as the lone forward and Roy O’Donovan on the left with Ian Morris in central midfield.

But however the team line up, Boothroyd knows they will have to be resilient against a Southend side that have won both of their league matches so far.

“We’re going to have to be flexible,” he said. “Southend have had a good start and throughout the season we’re going to have to be able to play a variety of formations.

“That may change in games to get results and we need to be resilient first and foremost in these games.

“That is something we can improve enormously from last season; we have to be tough and we have to have a goal threat.

“We didn’t have as big a goal threat at York as I would have liked but we have a bit more height and strength in the side now and I’m confident we can cause Southend more problems than we caused York.”

Two players of great stature, both physically and in terms of experience, return to the squad for the trip to Southend United - Chris Hackett and Clive Platt.

The duo will not only provide Boothroyd with selection food for thought, but also improve the strength of individual competition within the team.

“I’d rather be in a position where you’ve got a few decisions to make because that also means you’ve got competition for places,” he said.

“The plan from day one was to make sure we had 15 or 16 go-to players that, if we did get injuries, we wouldn’t have to dip into the loan market.

“The idea then is that you’re picking players on form.”