Three down as boss calls on his reserves
Alex Dyer and Michael Jacobs will be the midfield reinforcements tomorrow after a disastrous midweek reserve-team game.
Northampton Town played a behind-closed-doors game at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday afternoon with the intention of getting some competitive action into some of the squad's fringe players.
But the exercise was a costly one, with Luke Guttridge, Kevin Thornton and John Curtis all getting injured.
The news is worst on Thornton, who could not get a full bend into his
leg in the immediate aftermath of the game.
Guttridge is 50-50 to be in the frame for tomorrow's visit of Darlington, while Curtis is definitely out – although his injury is not as bad as Thornton's.
Their places on the substitutes bench will be taken by Dyer and Jacobs, a pair with less experience but plenty of quality of their own.
"The two lads who played central midfield in the week were excellent," said boss Ian Sampson, who has a good working knowledge of both – especially Dyer, from his long coaching career at Sixfields.
"They gave me some real food for thought and we've got some good replacements there.
"They're young and hungry and they didn't do themselves any harm with how they played."
But while the first-team door opens for them, it looks like closing – for a short while at least – for Thornton, whose brief Northampton Town
career has been a real rollercoaster so far.
After getting himself fit, the former Coventry City man enjoyed a handful of cameos where he looked like a cross between Martin Smith and Matthew Rush.
Then came the Aldershot sending-off, a three-match ban and 90 minutes on the bench in his first game back at Port Vale at the weekend.
"Kevin has got a knee injury and we think it's possibly similar to the injury Andy Holt has," he said. "Luke has got an ankle problem and John has hurt his calf.
"We couldn't assess Kevin because he couldn't get a full bend in his knee so we're looking fairly long-term with that one.
"John will be two weeks and Luke will be 50-50."
Changes are unlikely to be made to any part of the team for tomorrow's visit of Darlington, who are almost certain to be relegated to non-League football.
Sampson will instill the same hard work ethic that has been ingrained in the squad for a game many feel will be a contest in name only.
"The players all know they've got to work hard in any game," he said.
"You can't just turn up and win, you've got to match the work rate of the opposition, whoever they are.
"We need to do that first and foremost and then hopefully the talent we've got, and the football we're capable of playing will get us through."
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Kettering
Monday 13 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 5 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North west
