Cobblers manager Aidy Boothroyd has confirmed he will ‘hold fire’ on making any new transfer additions for the club but says there will be some arrivals and departures in the coming weeks.
Boothroyd is keen to add a fresh face or two to his Sixfields squad but is wary of doing so because the players on his short list are not 100 per cent fit.
The deadline to sign loan players closes on Thursday November 15, and there can be no new registrations from that point until January 1, unless the player in question is a free agent.
The Town squad continues to be hindered by injuries but the club hope to have Ben Harding back in training next week and the presence of a midweek game on the fixture list means Louis Moult’s three-match suspension will be consumed fairly quickly.
Jake Robinson is also expected to return from his loan spell at Luton Town next week.
“We’ve got 12 games in eight weeks that takes us through to January,” said Boothroyd. “That is going to be a time for shifting one or two things around.
“We’ll perhaps be moving people out and bringing people in as well; the most important time is right now, the next game.
“I’ve got to pick a team that can do and compete and take points off Accrington and that’s the most important thing right now.
“I spend most of my week watching games and there are a number of players that we can bring in.
“There are a number of players that I really like, that are my first choices, but that are injured – the last thing I want is to bring in another player for Stuart (Barker, physio) to look after.
“So I’m holding fire on one or two. We’ve got about 14 or 15 fit players at the moment but we knew that would be the case all along.”
Town have not lost in three games, a sequence that will be under the microscope against an Accrington side in a period of transition under new manager Leam Richardson.
But Boothroyd was encouraged by the nature of the second-half performance at York, in which his players rescued a point despite being down to 10 men.
“We found a lot out about that squad on Tuesday night,” he said. “The amount of physical energy that was expended was massive.
“They have to do that every week now and it’s good for me because I’ve got them now. I can ask for that in every game, when we’ve got 11 players now.
“It’s a big ask at Accrington but we have to get on with it.”
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