Cobblers boss Wilder keen to add extra striker to his squad

Town lost leading goalscorer Marc Richards to an Achilles injury which could end his season and signed James Gray on loan from Accrington to partially accommodate that loss.

They are also confident Billy Bodin will have more of an influence in the first team as he builds his fitness over the final two months of the campaign and mounts a challenge to Ivan Toney as the team’s first-choice centre-forward.

Toney has showed signs of tiredness in recent weeks in his first full season of senior football and with the team just five points off the Sky Bet League Two play-off places, an attacking addition could be made.

Wilder has already discussed the issue with chairman David Cardoza, who would be prepared to finance such a signing, although identifying the right player could prove problematic.

“You look at the teams at the top of the league and they have good players at the top end of the pitch - we’ve got that and whether we’ve got enough at the moment, we’ll have a look at that,” he said.

“I’ve already had that conversation with the chairman but the market in and around this period is even tougher than it is in January.

“Where do you source your players from? Are league two clubs going to let you have their strikers who are scoring goals in a tight league? Probably not, so that option is out.

“Then you look into league one, where there isn’t a single team whose season is over, and then it’s the championship, where you’re talking big, big dough for a centre-forward.

“To get that right is a difficult one and we’re looking and searching but a lot of clubs are in the same situation as us, where they just want that extra striker that can make a difference.

“To take players out of our division or the league below, they want money but we’ll keep looking and something might spring up with someone wanting games or who has fallen out with their club.”