O'Toole says Cobblers will be '˜firing on all cylinders' for Wimbledon clash

John-Joe O'Toole in action during Saturday's defeat to Rochdale (Picture: Sharon Lucey)

The in-form midfielder-turned-attacker admits he was as mystified as the club’s fans at the poor performance in last weekend’s 1-0 defeat to Rochdale at Sixfields.

O’Toole says the players know that showing ‘wasn’t good enough’, but that they can’t afford to dwell on that and must now concentrate of regaining the form that saw them claim 10 points out of a possible 12 ahead of the Dale defeat.

Asked about what went wrong last weekend, O’Toole admitted: “I can’t really put my finger on why we couldn’t really get going.

“In the first half I think we felt comfortable, and we had a few half chances and opportunities, but it was the smaller parts of the game, the little things we could have done better.

“That was things like not getting on to second balls, and it just wasn’t good enough.

“We were just reacting to things instead of being pro-active, and it was one those games that sometimes happens.

“It is frustrating, because Rochdale are down there as well and it was almost a six-pointer, but it has happened now and we need to concentrate on the next game.”

That next game is a pretty big one too, and offers the Cobblers the chance to move up the table, as they go into the clash at the Cherry Red Records Stadium just one point and one place behind Neal Ardley’s men in the table.

Wimbledon had the chance to put breathing space between themselves and the Cobblers on Tuesday night, but they were surprisingly beaten at rock-bottom Bury.

O’Toole says the players will now be concentrating on putting things right this weekend, once they have also reviewed what went awry last Saturday.

Asked about how the squad reacts to such a loss, O’Toole said: “We always have little chats among yourselves, and try to work out what went right and what went wrong, and what could have went better.

“Everybody has their own opinion, but you can’t dwell on it for too long.

“You have to concentrate on the next game and make sure we are firing on all cylinders for that.”