Boss Brady hoping home comfort can bring the best out of the Cobblers against Shrews

Town’s recent form on their own patch has been pretty strong, winning three of their past four home matches, and claiming three pretty tasty scalps in Portsmouth, Plymouth Argyle and Oxford United.

The one blip was the defeat at the hands of Crewe, but Brady is confident that his players can once again produce their best at the PTS when Shrewsbury Town come calling on Friday (ko 3pm).

“I think the players do feel comfortable at home,” said the Town boss.

“We said at the outset that our home ground is good, and the ground staff have been doing a fantastic job of getting the pitch back up to a respectable level.

“It’s not where we want it to be, but they are doing everything they can and it is more playable than it was, we can play a lot more on it. We want to try to play a lot more on it, and in some games we have.

“Then you get sides like Crewe who come here and stifle you, and we get caught in a battle, but that’s not what we wanted to do.

"We look forward to playing at home, I certainly do, and it is just gutting we can’t have the fans in.”

Last weekend was a painful one for Brady and his players as they lost 1-0 at AFC Wimbledon, with Sam Hoskins’ penalty miss with the last kick of the game proving very costly.

But after a couple of days’ off, the players are back at work, and Brady is pleased with how they have reacted to that Plough Lane setback

“We had a really positive day in training on Wednesday,” said the Australian.

“We got out what we wanted, the messages were clear and it was a good day, a strong day. I feel that we are ready to go again, and the focus stays the same.

“We will try to go into the match to win against Shrewsbury, and we will give our all again.

“Like at Wimbledon, we will always want to play a certain way, but games are going to be tight, there is going to be cut and thrust, and you are not always going to get it to go your own way.

That’s how games have been of late, especially against teams in and around us of late.

“Luckily enough Shrewsbury aren’t really in the mix down at the bottom of the table.

"But they are a good side, and they don’t give much away in terms of the fact they are very strong and solid.”