Boothroyd wants Cobblers to go on the attack against Newport

Town played a defensive style on the opening day at York City and allowed Milton Keynes Dons to have the bulk of possession on Tuesday night.

But against Newport, a side that have won both of their games so far this season - including a Capital One Cup shock at Brighton in midweek - Boothroyd wants his players to attack from the outset.

“I don’t think we’ve given a good account of ourselves in the games so far,” he said. “We were in and out of it and that’s not really good enough.

“We’ve played a couple of different formations in the games but more than anything we need to be running harder than our opponents, you can always do that.

“Newport play three at the back so we may do something slightly different but it’s important we put the onus on what we’re doing.

“At York we tried to play on the break and against MK Dons we tried to counter-attack but this is a home game in league two and we need to be positive and get on the front foot.”

Boothroyd is under no illusion of the size of the task that awaits his players this weekend, even though Newport have last season’s leading scorer, Aaron O’Connor, out injured.

“They’ve had two very good results in their first two games and when you get promoted there is a momentum you take into the next season,” said Boothroyd.

“They’ve got a few players injured and they’ve had extra time on Tuesday night but it will still be a difficult game.

“The aim for us is to put the onus on the opposition to defend and that’s what we’ll be looking to do on Saturday.”