Town defender Kioso happy to be challenging himself during loan spell at Northampton

Luton defender Peter Kioso is happy to be challenging himself once more during his loan spell at League One Northampton Town this season.

The 21-year-old moved to the Cobblers during January for the rest of the campaign, signing for then manager Keith Curle.

However, the former Carlisle and Notts County boss was then sacked earlier this month after a poor run of form, with Jon Brady taking temporary charge.

Although the new man hasn’t been able to turn around results just yet, the Cobblers sitting third bottom in the table following Saturday’s 4-3 defeat to MK Dons, Kioso who was on loan at Bolton Wanderers earlier in the season, said: “It’s been different for me here but I knew what I was getting myself into before coming to Northampton.

“I remember saying to my agent and to those close to me - it was about challenging myself and I knew this would provide me with a good challenge because it’s a strong league.

“Managers getting sacked is part of football and I’ve experienced that before. I’m only 21 but I think I’ve played under about 10 different managers so it does happen.

“For me, no matter what manager comes in, I need to make sure I do what I can to play to the best of my ability.

“There’s different challenges in this league compared to when I was at Bolton but that’s part of my development and I relish taking these challenges head on.

“It was a conversation between myself, the club and my agent but it was more my decision to come to Northampton because I felt it would bring me out of my shell and keep challenging myself.

“It’s a decision that I’m happy to have made.”

Kioso almost helped the Cobblers end a run of eight games without a win on Saturday, scoring his first goal for the club, heading home Mark Marshall’s cross.

It put the visitors 3-2 ahead with just 12 minutes remaining, but the hosts then hit back to triumph 4-3 scoring twice in the last seven minutes.

Kioso continued: “I’m happy to score my first goal, it was a great ball by Marshy because it was into a good area.

“When a player puts a ball into a good area, it’s just about attacking it so all I had in my head was to make sure I was in the right place to get on the end of it.

“The ball did the work for me and all I needed to do was just guide it into the net.

“It was good to score three on Saturday but now we need to build on it.

“All the boys were really disappointed in the changing room afterwards with how the game ended because we played really well.

“I think we’re making progress, we just need to keep believing in what we’re doing because we’re more than capable of getting out of this situation.”

With 30 games of the season now gone, Northampton are two points adrift of safety as their stay in the third tier of English football could potentially be a short one.

When asked if the poor form had affected Kioso’s time at the club so far, he added: “I wouldn’t say I’m enjoying it any differently because we’re still in a position near the bottom of the table.

“It’s frustrating because I know we have so much more to give.

“We’ve always been confident but it’s just about players coming out of their shells a bit more.

“No matter who the manager is, I know what type of player I am.

“I want to get on the ball, I want to play football and I want to get high and I want to defend.

“I need to make sure I stick to my game and do what I do my best and that will hopefully suit any manager I play under.”