Brady deeply hurt by Cobblers' derby mauling at Peterborough United

A ‘hurt’ Jon Brady will demand an immediate reaction from his side when they head back to Cambridgeshire this weekend following Tuesday’s horror show against Peterborough.

Town suffered derby day humiliation when thumped 5-1 by Posh, the first time they’ve conceded five goals in a league game since January 2022. Over 1,600 Cobblers fans made the short trip across the border but they were given little to cheer after Jon Guthrie’s early header.

"Peterborough are an excellent side and the way they play makes them really dangerous but the way they were allowed to play by us made them look even better,” said Brady.

"When you have all 11 players off it, and all of the opposition are on it, then you get a scoreline like that and that's really tough to take. The result and the scoreline really hurt.

"We've had some fantastic nights and days in League One this season but we knew there would be days like this and we said that at the start of the season.

"But you don't want it to happen against your local rivals and it's really disappointing that it has. We just have to dust ourselves and make sure we're ready for the challenge on Saturday.

"The way we defended was nowhere near the standards we have set ourselves. It was too easy for the first three goals and when you give those goals away, you're on the back foot and we continued to be on the back foot and we never got a foothold.

"Obviously you can always learn and we have to learn to be better in a fair few departments, but what we don't allow ourselves to do is feel sorry for ourselves. We have bounced back in the past and we have to bounce back again.

"Being at this level is a learning curve, we knew it would be, but we've been competitive all season and we have to make sure we're ultra competitive on Saturday."

Brady wanted to reassure Cobblers supporters that the defeat was as painful for him as it was for them – and that he will do everything possible to make amends when his side go to Cambridge United this weekend.

“I'm hurting and I know the players are hurting,” Brady added. “Our fans have been incredible all season and the support has been excellent.

"Moments like this really hurt because we've always tried to give them joy and I think we've given them a lot of joy so far and hopefully there's a lot more joy to come.

"But rest assured, this hurts me and I'm gutted.”