NO MONEY? NO PROBLEM!
NORTHAMPTON Town manager Chris Wilder praised the character of his players for maintaining the club’s promotion push despite not being paid this week.
The Cobblers are the subject of a winding-up petition being sought by HM Revenue & Customs, which is owed £166,000 by the club.
And they also owe Northampton Borough Council more than £10million.
But manager Wilder’s side are still fifth in League Two after a battling 2-2 draw at lowly Newport County.
The visitors were 2-0 up after half an hour at Rodney Parade thanks to Sam Hoskins’ tenthminute strike and a powerful free-kick from captain Marc Richards.
But the slowly-improving Exiles were soon level with Scott Barrow and Lenell John-Lewis both finding the net in a thrilling end to the half.
Neither side could find a winner after the restart – try as the might to make the breakthrough and nab maximum points.
But Wilder was full of pride for the way his players have coped with the off-the-field problems all month and seemingly not allowed it to affect their form.
“To go 2-0 up away from home and get pegged back is disappointing,” admitted the Cobblers boss.
“If we had gone five or ten minutes at 2-0 I think we would have gone on to win the game quite comfortably but we gave them a massive boost with a poor bit of defending.
“We’ve tried to win the game in the second half but it just was not to be for us.
“If you can’t win then you make sure that you don’t get beat.
“But the overriding view from the players is one of disappointment.
“I’m proud of the players and the support because of what’s gone on this week and that’s what I said to them in the huddle at the end.
“The way they’ve conducted themselves and the way they want to go and win for the football club tells a lot about the character that we have here in the dressing room.”
County manager John Sheridan was also pleased with the effort shown by his players as they moved up to 21st place in the League Two table to continue their recent revival.
“The players are giving me everything – you could see that,” said Sheridan, who replaced Terry Butcher at the helm.
“The goals are our fault – they were down to us being sloppy and picking the wrong pass.
“But I would rather talk about the response I got from my players.
“Probably a couple of weeks ago we would have lost that game.
“At 2-0 down we were vulnerable but we really had a go and got ourselves back in the game, which is a really good sign for us. “We know we’re going to have to work hard to get results with the position that we are in down at the bottom so full credit to the players.”