Northampton Town ready to rest players for Rochdale game

Town, eighth in npower League Two, play host to a Dale side seven places and seven points below them in the table but with hopes of improving that standing under manager Keith Hill, who returned to the club in January.

Northampton go into the fixture on the back of successive defeats and Boothroyd has hinted he may make changes to his side with the season now two-thirds complete.

“There could well be changes,” he said. “We’re coming to that stage in the season where we might have to rest one or two.

“But at the same time we’ve done okay, especially at home. This will be a difficult game because Rochdale are a team that came down from league one last year.

“They’ve got good players and they are another club who will be expecting to be up and around there and it will be a very tight game.

“We need to give a good account of ourselves and make sure we bounce back from the Rotherham game.”

Boothroyd cut a very frustrated figure after the defeat on Saturday but feels the disappointment the squad felt to not have taken anything from games against two clubs with greater spending power - Gillingham and Rotherham - represents a compliment to their progress this season.

“We don’t go crying about these things,” he said. “I was very disappointed after the Barnet game but these things happen from time to time.

“I think it’s a backhanded compliment to us that we’re so irritated about coming away with nothing from games against the two teams with the biggest budgets in the league, Rotherham and Gillingham, and who are strongly fancied to go up this year.

“That’s a real credit to everybody concerned with the club and connected to what we’re doing.”