Boss Wilder bullish about Cobblers’ play-off chances

Town go into a busy Easter weekend in 10th place, but just four points off the top seven, and Wilder wants his team to close that gap even further with positive results in Good Friday’s trip to AFC Wimbledon and Monday’s home date with Cambridge United.

Asked if he believes the Cobblers can still make the play-offs with seven matches remaining this season, Wilder said: “I think we are in with a real chance.

“We have put a lot of pressure on teams above us to get results, because we are getting results.

“We have won 10 games out of 15, so it is a fantastic set of results, and we are looking to continue doing that and put pressure on the teams above us.

“Statistically, and if you look at the maths and the numbers, then we are the outsiders to get into the play-offs, but on current form we are not.

“We need to make sure we keep our current form and keep up the pressure.

“There are some good sides in the mix, and there are teams that have a points tally that is better than ours, but with two games coming up in three days, a gap can easily be erased. That is what we will be trying to do over this tough Bank Holiday period.”

Wilder was delighted not only with the performance of his team in the 2-1 win over Luton Town last Saturday, but also the character they showed to fight back and win the game after they had fallen behind early in the second half.

The Town boss was especially pleased as the comeback came after losing their previous two games, to Carlisle United and Bury.

“We had a couple of disappointing results, and we could have gone under,” admitted Wilder. “But I think the win over Luton showed the mentality and strength of character within the group.

“It was a massive performance, and a really big win, and we needed to win the game, we understood that.

“But the players showed in that game that they are capable of playing under that kind of pressure, and that’s what we will be looking to do again this weekend.”

The trip to Wimbledon looks a particularly tough one though, as they haven’t lost at Kingsmeadow since January 17, and they have claimed 16 out of the last 18 points available to them at home.

But Wilder believes his team will be up for the fight, and said: “Our tails are up, and we are going for it.

“We have two tough tests coming up. Wimbledon have got a fantastic home record, their league position is based on their home record, so to go there to get a result we are going to have to play well, and that’s what we’re aiming to do.”