Northampton must avoid 'cruise control' in games, says full-back Aaron McGowan
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Aaron McGowan joined Northampton from Scottish club Kilmarnock last summer
Full-back Aaron McGowan says Northampton Town must avoid lapsing into "cruise control" if they are to win promotion from League Two.
He scored one of the goals in Tuesday's 2-1 victory at Stevenage, which kept the Cobblers second in the table.
Their recent form has been mixed, winning three of their past eight games, with three draws and two losses.
"For me the last 20 minutes wasn't good enough," 25-year-old McGowan told BBC Radio Northampton.
"We've got to start learning when we're in a winning position that you can't go on cruise control at this level.
"But you can't get too downbeat because it's a great three points for the club. It's not about performance, it's all about results at the business end of the season.
"We're keeping ourselves right in the hunt and that's the most important thing, but we've got to find ways to not sit back and not think 'this is easy'."
Northampton were relegated last season, but boss Jon Brady has built a squad capable of contending for an immediate return to League One, having replaced Keith Curle in May 2021.
Three of their next four games are at home, starting with Bristol Rovers on Saturday, but McGowan's believes they must maintain their positivity for 90 minutes to capitalise on their current position in the table.
"It comes from different things. It comes from the defence, including myself, sitting too deep because they're not hurting you; it comes from when it goes to an attacker, can he keep the ball, will it stick for us?
"They're just little errors around the pitch that ultimately contribute to them scoring a goal, and we can't keep doing that," he said.
"Bristol Rovers are going well at the minute, but frankly I don't really care, it's about what we do at this stage of the season.
"The impetus will be on us to go on the front foot in front of our own crowd and give them a good game."
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