New Faces

...and Derek Adams is pleased to his entire squad having an immediate impact at the club.

Derek’s side made it three league wins out of four to start their Sky Bet League 2 campaign, as goals from Graham Carey and Jake Jervis were enough to see off a fellow promotion contender at Sixfields.

The two summer signings both took their goal tallies to three for the season already, and Adams believes the new faces’ ability to settle in and integrate quickly with rest of the squad is a key factor in their early success.

“They’ve all performed well,” said Derek. “The players that were here last season have helped the others, in the dressing room and on the pitch, as well. Then the players that have come in have given them a lift.

“We’ve done really well. We’ve only conceded one goal from open play, which is impressive. We’ve got to keep going. 

“We’ve got to keep the concentration, the momentum, the confidence. These are all the things we’ll speak about. We’ve got players who are hungry, and when you’ve got a player that’s hungry, you’ve got a chance.

“We’ve had it drilled into them; we’ve got players that have got that about them in their ability. They want to come here and do well. The signings have been good, and the ones that were here last season have done well for us. All combined, I’m happy with the group of players that we have."

Both Gregg Wylde and Reuben Reid were withdrawn from the win over Northampton due to minor injuries, and whilst both players have already made their presence felt in this campaign, the boss is pleased to see all members of the squad contributing when switches must be made.

“[Wylde] has a slight injury, so I just thought I might as well take him off and protect him,” said Adams, “like we protected Reuben.

“He just thought his thigh was a wee bit tight. We’ve got players in our squad that are capable of coming on, and they showed that today.

“We’ve had to change the team a couple of times during the game, and we’ve got players that are capable of doing that.

“I think it’s always important you get goals from all areas of the team. We’ve done well from set plays as well; we’ve scored a number of goals from them. We just need the defenders to chip in now, but they’ve done well defensively.”