Jones reveals Banton absence due to an '˜internal matter'

The 19-year-old has been one of the finds of Jones’ short time in charge at Kenilworth Road, making a number of impressive cameos from the bench.

Banton had travelled to Sixfields this afternoon and was in contention to start, but wasn’t even named on the bench as when asked why, Jones said: “That’s an internal matter, he would have been, I had contemplated starting him, but it’s an internal matter that we’ve had to deal with and it’s a learning curve for young Zane.

“If he wants to be a professional footballer, he has to do a lot of things differently, as he has wonderful, wonderful ability and he’s been a surprise for us.

“But his every day lifestyle has to change to make sure it’s conducive to being a top level footballer, otherwise he’ll have these learning curves and today was one of them.”

When quizzed further on it, Jones added: “It’s just a little bit of a lack of discipline, which has cost him really. We’ve missed that spark a little bit, but he’s a young kid, he has to learn.

“I had to learn throughout my career, and so does Zane. It’s nothing serious, nothing to be made more of but Zane will learn from it.”