Boss wild about Northampton

Boss Chris Wilder celebrated his January manager of the month award by seeing Northampton extend their winning run to five games.

Top scorer Marc Richards bagged what proved to be the second-half winner as the Cobblers beat Morecambe 2-1 at Sixfields. Joel Byrom's early opener was cancelled out by Jamie Devitt but Richards notched his 16th goal of the campaign and then hit the post from the penalty spot while Alan Goodall was denied a late equaliser when he hit the woodwork. Wilder said: "I was delighted with the first half, apart from the equaliser, and I was disappointed to go in on level terms because I thought we could have been two or three up. You always want to get off to a quick start, especially at home and that's been a feature of our games, especially here. "We got done on one long ball and it was quite flat in the dressing room at half-time and their goal deflated us a little bit. But we knew we'd have to go again and lift ourselves and that's what we did in the second half. "Morecambe are a dangerous side and they took some chances in the second half, which they had to do to get back in the game. We weren't great at picking them off, we rushed our clearances and needed to be better when we broke the play up. "It shouldn't have been a struggle for us but it was, either through our bad play or through not being calm enough." Morecambe boss Jim Bentley was left to reflect on a poor start which gave his side everything to do to maintain their unbeaten run. He said: "The start we made to the game was shocking and we were lucky to only concede one during that period because Northampton could have scored three or four times. "They are a good team, they had won four on the spin, and we've got no divine right to come to a place like this and think we're going to get something. At that point we didn't even have a first wind never mind a second wind, but once we changed our shape we began to hurt them. "But we got the equaliser and that got us a foothold in the game. I was pleased to go in on level terms and after that we've had chances and their goalkeeper has made a couple of incredible saves. "We've hit the post as well and those are the things that go for you when you are winning games and against you when you aren't. But we gave it a right good go after the poor start we made. "Northampton are one of the top clubs in this division, the top clubs usually have the top players and Marc Richards is a quality player for this level. He was always a threat and showed that quality when he got that winning goal."