Wilder pleased with Northampton

Chris Wilder was delighted after seeing Northampton make it three straight wins with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Newport.

The Cobblers romped to three more points at Sixfields where first-half goals from Ryan Cresswell and John-Joe O'Toole put Wilder's men in charge before the break before Lawson D'Ath added a third goal late on. Wilder said: "As always, the result is the most important thing but for the first half an hour we were outstanding. That's probably the best we've played this season during that period. "We drove the game forward and created plenty of chances. As with all Justin's [Edinburgh] sides, Newport showed a reaction after half-time and battled back into the game. But we defended very well during that spell after the break and dealt with their half chances. "I was slightly disappointed we didn't play our way out of defence a little better and we needed the third goal earlier in the second half. But I can't really complain too much because Matt Duke hasn't had much to do and we always looked a threat going the other way. "It was an excellent performance and every player has contributed to the victory. Newport are no mugs, they are consistent, tough and are up in there in the play-offs by right, but we never really let them get into the game. "We always want to make good starts and we did that. I don't think anyone can say we didn't fully deserve to be 2-0 up. We scored two goals from set-pieces which is satisfying because those set-plays come from good approach play. "I always want us to create chances from good, open attacking football but you have to make sure you get something from set-pieces when you win them, which we did." Wilder also had special praise for D'Ath after he bagged his sixth goal of the season, adding: "I can't speak highly enough of Lawson. His attitude has been spot-on all season, ever since he came into the club. "He gave us a lot of energy and was at the heart of our attacking play in the first half. We know he's always capable of getting goals and that takes the weight off Marc Richards." Newport assistant manager Jimmy Dack had no complaints about the outcome. He said: "That's two very disappointing performances away from home for us. We pride ourselves on our set-pieces and to concede from two of them in the first 25 minutes was very poor for us. "We didn't perform in this game and we didn't perform at Cambridge last week either. "We set them out the way we always do and for whatever reason, sometimes people have a little blip. We've had two tough away games and we've been good away from home this season. "Next Saturday we're back at home and we'll look for a reaction there. We had a sticky spell at the start of the season and came through it and we need to hope we can do that with this spell. "We've lost two on the spin which we're not happy about but we're still sixth and five points ahead of seventh, so we're still cemented in the play-offs."