Colin Calderwood says downbeat Northampton have 'lots of fear' as Mansfield Town defeat adds to relegation concerns
Northampton Town’s hopes of surviving relegation suffered another blow following their 4-1 defeat to Mansfield Town on Saturday.
The Cobblers managed a mere consolation goal at the One Call Stadium after braces from Will Evans and Lucas Akins sealed the deal for Nigel Clough’s side.
Former Stags player and current Northampton interim manager Colin Calderwood admitted after the match that his side are feeling ‘lots of fear’, with time running out for them to pull themselves out of the relegation zone.
Calderwood said ahead of the match that he always enjoys returning to Mansfield but he left feeling downbeat as Stags’ win marked Northampton’s seventh defeat in eight games.
“It’s really hard to defend that performance and the overall competitiveness. We’re getting beat by small margins, we’re getting beat by big margins, so we’re certainly a shell of an aggressive team,” Calderwood reflected after the hefty loss.
“They come out on top of it and when you add that to normal stuff that happens in the game, the averages are completely the wrong side.”
Cobblers have won just once since Boxing Day and find themselves deep in the bottom four as a result of their recent run of disappointing results. As their winless stretch continues, relegation fears are growing within the Northampton camp.
The club parted ways with ex-manager Kevin Nolan earlier this month, following a dismal run of just one win in 16 games. Technical director Calderwood has stepped in on an interim basis.
“We’ve got to use self-respect as the guideline. There’s lots of fear at the minute in the players because they can’t imagine themselves having a good game. So there’s a little bit of psychological stuff that we’re going to have to grind and it will be a grind. And that grind comes from within, so it’ll have to be an internal thing that we have to do as individuals and as a group. But we’ve got to show that we are completely better than that,” Calderwood said.
Mansfield Town’s win keeps their unbeaten run ticking over to six and puts them on 49 points in the table. However, Clough has admitted he doesn’t feel hitting the 50 mark will be enough to guarantee their safety.