Austin confident striker Williams will hit the goal trail

The striker was Austin’s first signing as Town boss, joining from Sky Bet League One outfit Doncaster Rovers in May, but it hasn’t quite gone to plan for Williams as he is yet to find the target in a Cobblers shirt.

Williams hasn’t started a league game since the defeat at Morecambe last month, but is in line to replace the injured Junior Morias in the Town attack for Saturday’s league two date with Cheltenham Town at the PTS Academy Stadium, although Billy Waters is also in the mix for selection.

If Williams does play, he will be hoping he gets more joy than he did in Tuesday night’s 1-0 Checktrade Trophy defeat to Wycombe Wanderers.

In what was a poor team performance, the 32-year-old toiled away with no reward up front.

It can’t have been great for the player’s confidence, but Austin revealed he has spoken to Williams, and has reassured him that his luck is going to change.

“Willo is a very good player,” said the Cobblers boss. “I have no doubt that when he gets one, I believe he will go on and he will score plenty of goals for the Cobblers.

“Unfortunately for him at the moment, wherever he goes, the ball drops somewhere else.

“I had a conversation with him on Thursday, we had a good chat, and he said ‘gaffer, I can’t get my head round it. I go into a position where I know I want the ball, I am free to get it, and I don’t get it. Then when I think I won’t go in there next time, the ball goes in there’.

“So I just told him to ‘keep gambling, because the ball which eventually go in there, and it will fall for you, and you will get your rewards’.

“I told him to not stop believing in himself or his team-mates, because the opportunities will come.

“The amount of chances that this team is creating, it can’t not come.”

Williams has a proven track record in leagues one and two, scoring 122 goals in a career that has seen him play for the likes of Bristol Rovers, Yeovil Town, Swindon Town and Doncaster.

Austin accepts that the player has yet to really hit his straps in the claret and white, but he has no doubt he will come good, and says his work-rate ensures he is always useful to the team.

“Willo would admit that we haven’t seen him at his very, very best so far, but I think the supporters really appreciate him,” said Austin.

“They see what sort of shift he puts in when he plays, and they know he works his socks off.

“He goes for it in every game, and I think our fans appreciate that when they see him play.”