Cobblers skipper fires warning to Athletic

Northampton Town skipper Ash Taylor

Northampton skipper Ash Taylor has warned Athletic there is no way the doomed Cobblers will be rolling over for them at the Sixfields Stadium tomorrow (ko 5.30pm).

The Cobblers were effectively relegated from Sky Bet League One last weekend, following their last-gasp defeat at Walsall.

That result, allied with Athletic’s 0-0 draw against Doncaster, means the Cobblers, thanks to their dreadful goal difference, need to beat Richie Wellens' men 9-0 on the final day of the season to have a chance of avoiding the drop.

Surely that is not going to happen.

The match is effectively a dead rubber for Northampton, but that is certainly not the case for Athletic, who need to beat the Cobblers to guarantee their own survival in League One.

Athletic are currently fifth-from-bottom in the third tier, a single point clear of fourth-from-bottom Rochdale, who entertain play-off chasing Charlton Athletic tomorrow evening.

Taylor has reassured fans of Rochdale and the Cobblers, and warned Athletic's players, that he and his team-mates will be 100-per-cent professional.

“We still have a job to do," Taylor told the Northampton Chronicle.

"There is pride to play for, and we want to finish the season as well as we can.

“There is disappointment, but we still have a job to do as teams are relying on us to put on a performance, and the fans don’t want to see their team roll over on the last day.

“I am not one of those players who will sit there and take a beating on the last day because there is not a lot to play for.

“I know we need a miracle to win 9-0, but stranger things have happened in football, and we have to be positive and go into the game fully focused on finishing the season strongly ahead of next season.”