O’Donovan relishing chance to shine alongside Akinfenwa and Platt

Clive Platt and Adebayo Akinfenwa both provide a substantial physical presence for Town but with Alex Nicholls ruled out for the rest of the season there is an opening for a sharper, smaller centre-forward.

Jake Robinson has been in good form as a left-winger and the club hope to get Louis Moult and Lewis Wilson out on loan to bolster their confidence and momentum.

O’Donovan admits his debut at Rotherham on Saturday - in which Northampton were beaten 3-1 - did not go as he hoped but is sure he can profit from the power provided by Town’s other front players.

“I know Clive Platt well and (Adebayo) Akinfenwa is a fantastic player,” he said. “So hopefully I can feed off them and get plenty of goalscoring chances.

“Nothing really dropped for me at Rotherham on Saturday but I’m surrounded by good players and I know we can do well as a team.

“Our away form needs to pick up and we need to have a bit more of an edge away from home.”

O’Donovan played the second half at Rotherham, inititally as a striker but then as a winger in a game which manager Aidy Boothroyd felt his side definitely deserved to lose.

The 27-year-old Irishman believes it was clear proof of the small margins by which football matches are settled.

“It was nice to get out there out play again but the result was obviously not what I was looking for,” he said.

“We had our chances but they punished us for not taking them and it just shows you the thin margins in football, whatever level you are at.

“Elementary mistakes will always cost you and that was the case on Saturday.”