Wilder: Players raring to go after successful pre-season

The Cobblers recorded four wins from seven pre-season friendlies plus produced impressive displays against Championship opposition Derby County and Birmingham City.

And after their final game against Sheffield on Friday, Wilder feels he and his players are fully prepared for their League Two opener at newly-promoted Bristol Rovers on Saturday.

He said: “We’re ready for the season. The players are ready to go and they just want to play football now. We’ve had a really good pre-season.

“We’ve come through it pretty much injury-free. There’s been a few little niggles but generally the attitude of the players has been outstanding, our play has been really good and the game against Sheffield was a fantastic test for us.

“We wanted pre-season to be varied. We were the big boys on Friday as Birmingham and Derby were against us and the game football is interesting at times because you don’t always get what you deserve - you have to earn the right and fight and scrap and do what you have to do and we were certainly in a battle on Friday.”

On his side’s 3-0 win over Sheffield, Wilder added: “They were lively from the off and we made a slow and sloppy start. It was a tough game out there and we had to find a way to into the game and to dominate and we did that.

“I understand it’s always difficult for the players a week away from the season starting because you’re close and you’re a little bit hesitant, a bit apprehensive because all the boys want to play at the start of the season and I understand why it possibly wasn’t a committed performance as we’d have liked.”