Brady seeks the right balance for Cobblers after change of shape against Blackpool

Cobblers boss Jon Brady could be tempted to revert back to a four-man defence against Wycombe Wanderers this weekend after he changed formation for the visit of Blackpool in midweek.

Northampton went to a back three for Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat at Sixfields and whilst they were more solid defensively and gave up few chances other than Matt Pennington’s winner, their attacking play suffered as a result.

"Potentially we would have gone to a back three more this season if not for the injuries but it's dictated by opposition and who's available and there are a lot of things to consider,” said Brady.

"It might have allowed us to be a bit more flexible but there's always a balance to be found and we want to keep more clean sheets. The amount of changes we've had to make on our back-line has been very frustrating this season because that's where most of our injuries have been.

"That's made it quite tough and we want to be more defensively sound but it took away some of our attacking prowess so you have to try and get the balance right.

"To go from Saturday to Tuesday and to change shape so quickly and do the work on it, I thought out of possession we did very well."

With Cobblers all-but safe having reached 50 points, Brady is keen to ensure the season doesn’t fizzle out.

"We have eight games to go and as I've said, we are determined to finish the season strong,” he added. "We've had problems on our defensive line but hopefully by the end of the month we get a few back and they can help us finish strong.

"That's our aim. We're in a really good position, and a position that not many expected us to be in, but we aren't going to sit on that and rest on our laurels. To get to 50 points at this stage is really nice and a good milestone to tick off but it’s not our target. We'll keep working hard.”