Stuart Gray declared himself happy with the Cobblers performance in their win over Darlington on Tuesday night, but admitted he was relieved that some of the chances his team passed up did not prove costly.

"The most important thing was to get through and we did but I was also very pleased with the performance," he said.

"We created plenty of chances and I was a little concerned to see us pass so many of them up and we should have been more comfortable winners.

"We have had a couple of situations where we have been 2-0 up at half time this season and not seen it through, but tonight we kept reminding the players of the Bristol Rovers performance and that was not acceptable so they had a point to prove.

Article continues
Advertisement

"I thought that was the best performance of the season from Andy Kirk and Poul Hubertz and as a team we were back to entertaining the fans and creating chances. I felt we deserved a clean sheet and it was a shame to concede late on, but we are through to the next round.

"Poul Hubertz has had an Achilles problem and he was not fit to play at Crewe. He declared himself fit tonight though and I was very pleased with him, although he was limping a bit towards the end and we will have to see how he is for the weekend.

"Andy Kirk had a very good game. His work rate was good, he kept the ball well and he turned bad balls into good balls with his willingness to chase. He got his rewards with his goal and he could have had at least one more to his name.

"Bradley Johnson is still a very young lad and all young players have their highs and lows and he was back in the team with a bang tonight. He was another with a great work rate and although he did well, he could have had at least one more goal to his name. Man for man we were at it and that was pleasing.

"Ryan Gilligan got a kick on his heel in training on Monday and that is why he missed out, but Ian Henderson should be back in full training later this week."

LOOKING TO MORTGAGE/RE-MORTGAGE? SUPPORT THE CLUB AND HELP YOURSELF. GIVE CLARET & WHITE A CALL ON 0845 2 60 80 77 OR VISIT www.claretandwhite.co.uk