Brady and Cobblers to make the most of a rare weekend off

Cobblers boss Jon Brady will use this weekend’s unscheduled break from league action as an opportunity to take stock and ‘reset’ after a generally encouraging start to the new season.

Northampton were scheduled to make the trip to pre-season title favourites Derby County on Saturday but the game has been called off due to international call-ups within the Rams squad.

It’s one of 10 games in the division that has been postponed, with Stevenage against Carlisle United and Leyton Orient’s trip to Exeter City the only fixtures set to go ahead.

Cobblers go into the break 15th in League One with a respectable return of seven points from their opening six games, but it could easily have been more.

They were the better team in defeat to Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday and also more than matched their opposition when narrowly beaten by Wigan and Stevenage. The wins have come against Peterborough and Cheltenham.

"It's been a tough start to the season but we have definitely showed we can compete in the league because we already have done in every game so far,” said Brady.

"The performances have been really strong and every game has been really tight and could have gone either way. The games we've won, we've just won, and when we've lost, we've only lost narrowly.

"That shows we're competing well and overall I think the performances have been good. Some players need a bit of rest, others need to work and it's probably nice to have a bit of a reset over the next few days.

"We'll do that and we’ll come back all fresh and strong on Monday ready to attack the week and look forward to Port Vale next Saturday.”

Brady and his staff would have used this weekend as an opportunity to get and scout other teams in League One had international call-ups not postponed 10 of the 12 fixtures.

"It would have been nice to try and get out and watch other teams but unfortunately Port Vale aren't playing and I think most games are off this weekend,” Brady added.

"You want to go and have a look in person but I think there's only Stevenage and Exeter going ahead. I'm not going down to Exeter but I might pop down and watch Stevenage."