Wilder insists there is still more to come from in-form Cobblers

Four wins in five games and one defeat in the past nine have propelled the Cobblers to fourth in Sky Bet League Two, just a point behind second place.

The latest of those victories came at Sixfields on Saturday when second-half goals from Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Alfie Potter saw off Stevenage.

That win means the Cobblers now have 27 points from 15 games this season - their highest total since the 1990/1991 Division Four campaign - but Wilder is adamant there is room for improvement.

He said: “The win takes us right in and amongst it now and I’ve got nothing but praise and admiration for the group and the way they’re going about it, as well as the whole club.

“You’d rather be there than fourth from bottom so we’ve made a good, solid start but I still believe there’s more to come from us, and we’ll get better and stronger.

“Our points per game ratio is outstanding and now we just need to keep that consistency.

“We’ll have days, like the first half on Saturday, when it doesn’t flow but it’s about how you react and how you react to defeat, and for us to go on the run we did - the six games unbeaten - lose at Cambridge and then win the next two is an outstanding effort.

“We’ve got a week off now so we’ll rest and get our feet up and then go into work looking to go again and keep in touch at the top and we’ll do that by being positive and trying to pick up another three points.

“We’ve got a spring in our step and we should be proud of what we’re doing at this club.”

After Ryan Cresswell suffered an early injury in Tuesday’s win over Carlisle, Wilder then lost another centre-back in Shaun Brisley just 10 minutes into Saturday’s game against Stevenage with Rod McDonald, who himself has been out for more than a month with a knee injury, his replacement.

Cresswell and Peterborough loanee Brisley have been regular starters in Northampton’s excellent recent run of form and Wilder admitted it was a blow to lose both in such a short space of time.

He said: “Cresswell and Brisley have been outstanding but I lose Cressy and then I lose Bris on Saturday.

“Rodders has not trained all week until Thursday after quite a long time out and obviously Zander (Diamond) hasn’t played much, but they had to get on with it which they did.

“I’m not sure how Shaun is. We’ll find out but to have that disruption again is very unfortunate.

“They’re big, strong boys who you have to drag off the pitch so there’s obviously something there that’s not great for them to be forced off that early in a game.”