AIDY BOOTHROYD has confirmed he will make changes either ‘before or during’ Saturday’s npower League Two game at Plymouth Argyle.
The Town squad made the long trip to Devon on Friday afternoon after a morning session to recover from the Wolves game that took place on Thursday night.
They lost that tie, a Capital One Cup second-round contest, 3-1 but Boothroyd accepts the game at Plymouth is the most crucial one his team will play this week.
Northampton are unbeaten in the league so far, but with another midweek game on the horizon (they play host to Milton Keynes Dons in the first round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy on Tuesday) the manager may look to rotate his squad a little.
“Plymouth is a far more important game for us,” he said. “Although the Wolves game a lot of glitz and glamour about it, the league is our bread and butter and that will always be our priority.
“We’ve got two games in four days coming up and with this one we’ve got to make sure everyone is all right.
“I will change it around, whether that is at the start of the game or during the game because while I’m trying to get the team together and get people to know each other, it’s really important that the lads on the bench get a chance.
“They’ve all been brought here for a reason and they need to impress me when they get an opportunity to do so.”
Danny East is likely to again deputise for John Johnson at right full-back but Alex Nicholls should be clear to play after being withdrawn against Wolves at half-time.
On-loan Lee Nicholls, who was denied permission to play on Thursday by his parent club Wigan Athletic, is set to return in goal at the expense of Dean Snedker.
“We will assess Johnno (Johnson) but Luke (Guttridge) will be okay because he’s a tough kid,” said Boothroyd
“He took a couple of whacks during the game but that was a compliment to him because he was running the game for periods.
“Alex Nicholls had a dead leg so we took him off as a precaution. He wanted to stay on but we don’t want him injured so we had to take the sensible view that we want him fit for the whole season and not just for one game.”