O’Toole insists high-flying Cobblers will keep their feet on the ground

Northampton travel to south Wales sitting pretty in fourth place in Sky Bet League Two, level on points with third-placed Oxford United, and just a point adrift of second-placed Portsmouth.

Chris Wilder’s men have lost just one of their past nine league games, and have enjoyed their best start to a season for 25 years.

Despite the off-field problems hanging over the club, performance levels and confidence are very high on the pitch, but O’Toole insists there is no chance of the players getting too big for their boots.

“We should go into the game on Saturday with confidence, but not over confident,” said O’Toole.

“It is going to be a really tough game. It is one I am sure we can win, but we won’t be taking it too easy or anything like that, and it is one we are looking forward to.

“We are in decent form, and are doing well, but it is no good doing well for five or six games, we have to kick on now.

“We have got ourselves into a good position, and we now need to carry that on and get even further up the table and stay there.

“It is good to have an air of confidence about the team, but you can’t be too confident or show signs of getting ahead of yourself.

“If we take games like this too lightly then we will soon be slipping down the league.”

Newport are currently third bottom in league two and haven’t won at home since March, but they have won their past two games on the road and are showing signs of a genuine recovery under new manager John Sheridan.

They were impressive 4-1 winners at Bristol Rovers last weekend, and O’Toole is anticipating a difficult afternoon at Rodney Parade.

“I wouldn’t be saying this game is a banker by any means, and we just have to get on with our job and stay professional and get the win,” said the Town man.

“I have been to Newport a few times and it is not a particularly nice place to go, and have never really had a good time of it there.

“It will be a tough game but we have a lot to play for.”

The Cobblers go into the game on the back of two wins of their own, having come from a goal down to beat both Carlisle United and Stevenage at Sixfields.

They were games in which Town showed admirable fighting spirit as well as quality, and O’Toole admits they were both games the Cobblers may not have won in the previous campaign.

“That is something that might not have happened last season, where we weren’t as good at coming back from a goal down in games,” he said.

“But it is something we have improved on, and we definitely have the players and spirit to do it, but ideally you don’t want to have to go a goal down.

“We are always looking to improve, and that is one of the departments we could do with improving on, not conceding so many goals.

“But it is good to be able to come from behind and get points on the board.”