Danny Cowley spoke with obvious warmth and affinity about The FA Cup ahead of Saturday’s clash with Northampton Town.
FA Cup: The FA Cup is the greatest cup competition in the world and Imps fans don’t need reminding of that with the tangible evidence of the training ground to support that view. City drew on the 16/17 run to harness unbelievable confidence and learning that was carried into the league. This is the first home tie since Brighton and Imps like being at home. DC drew laughs from the press corps when he revealed how he had spoken about the cup with the squad. He explained that he had asked the players how far they had got in the FA Cup previously in the hope that John Akinde and Jason Shackell would ask how far DC had progressed. As they hadn’t DC had told them anyway. He then quipped that the players weren’t clever enough to flip the question to ask him what was the earliest he had been knocked out – pretty early. DC had vivid memories of following West Ham especially dragging his Mum and a very young NC to an away tie at Kettering to watch a dreadful one nil before getting knocked out by Luton after a defender trod on the ball. He also enjoyed West Ham fans singing for the full 90 minutes (Lincolnesque) when they had a 4-1 reverse at Forest after a dodgy sending off. Clearly, the FA Cup is a competition dear to DC heart and even Chris Ashton couldn’t deflate him too much when pointing out that as an actual League club Imps had the worst record in the competition!
Northampton: DC was mindful that Northampton spent a lot of money on good players three transfer windows ago and after a difficult start are resurgent with new confidence under Keith Curle; 6 wins in 7. Curle employs a system that suits those players which will involve high energy to employ an aggressive press backed up by being well organised.
Injury situation: DC hadn’t wanted the Yeovil game to be called off but he will put the two weeks until the next game to good use. It is an opportunity to draw breath to freshen things up and ensure advances on the training pitch with regard to technique and tactics as well as physically. Another advantage to the enforced lay off is that he will be able to be more ‘aggressive’ with team selection for players carrying knocks as there is more recovery time. Question marks remain over Neil Eardley and Bossie. Michael O’Connor long-term well being had not been jeopardised by the midweek knee injection as player welfare was always the priority. There were different injections for different reasons such as anti-inflammatory or conversely ligament strengthening so that was a factor to be considered. DC stated it was important to know the character of his players as some would err towards being 100% fit to play whereas others would play regardless and that had to be taken into account ahead of a final decision.
Writer: hulloutpost
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DC: "We see it as a really good distraction.":https://t.co/Kw9zRYSk5s#ImpsAsOne #NTFC #Northampton
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