Boos baffle Brady as Cobblers boss responds to critics with passionate defence of his players amid difficult run

Cobblers boss Jon Brady has launched a passionate defence of his players and their recent performances after labelling the decision of some supporters to boo them off against AFC Wimbledon on Tuesday as a ‘disgrace’.

Town have won only two of their last eight league games after being held to a second successive goalless draw on home turf on a frustrating night at Sixfields. They dominated the contest but again failed to fire in attack.

Nonetheless, Brady’s side remain in a good position in League Two. They are level on points with third-placed Carlisle United and have a game in hand, albeit there are now a whole swarm of teams queuing up behind them.

That did not stop a few fans booing at full-time on Tuesday while others vented their frustration on social media, but Brady was quick to defend his players and their recent form. He pointed to a number of factors, namely the youthful nature of his squad, the lengthy injury list and the difficulty of breaking down an organised, deep defence. Wimbledon barely created a chance of note at Sixfields with their sole aim seemingly to stop the Cobblers.

"They are a young group and they're learning and they're getting better,” said Brady. “We are picking up injury after injury and people say I'm moaning and I've got a small minority of fans booing at the end, which is a disgrace. We're level on points with third place.

"I don't get it. The style of play is so much better than it has been for a long time and we are really trying and the players are working so hard. I feel you can see an identity to us but with them (Wimbledon) it was just defend, defend, defend. We aren’t playing for draws and we aren’t playing boring football, we are having a go.

"I have an unbelievable group of young men who are really working so hard for the club. If we get automatic promotion this season, brilliant. If we don't, so be it. I'm not worried. We will go again next year.

"It's really annoying me at the moment because we have the third youngest squad in the EFL and they are working very hard and I need our fans. I asked our fanbase to get behind us but there's some here that, I don't know what they want to see or what they expect.

"I think some people feel we have a divine right to be in League One but I don't know where that comes from. I don't understand it.

"There are so many big teams with big budgets in this league. When they get injuries, they go and buy another player. They buy, buy, buy. You look at Stockport. But we're different. We look after what we have here and we nurture the young talent. I don't know what else those fans want to see.”

After coming so close to promotion last season, and having been in and around the top three for most of this year, there is a danger that Cobblers become a victim of their own success.

"Maybe we have created an expectation,” Brady added. “The players themselves have created that expectation but we want to be on this journey together and I understand there is some frustration.

"But the effort, the energy, the willingness is all there. OK, putting the ball in the back of the net is the biggest thing in football but it's difficult against an organised defence.

"You look at Liverpool against Everton the other night. They were trying to break down an Everton side that sat deep but they had to do it on the break with two fast-paced counter-attacks because they couldn't break them down in normal play.

"We did that in the first 15, 20 minutes (on Tuesday) and I thought we were really, really good and then Wimbledon nullified that, but we were banging on the door and we just couldn't find the final touch.

"The energy and effort was fantastic and I'm just so proud of my players, I really am.”