Brady believes Crewe defeat could be a 'blessing in disguise' for Cobblers

Jon Brady believes Cobblers poor performance in defeat to Crewe Alexandra last Saturday could be a 'blessing in disguise' after they got 'back on track' against Oxford United in midweek.

Brady was disappointed by the way his players veered away from his principles and played a more direct game against Crewe as Owen Dale's late goal decided a tepid affair at the PTS.

The Town boss reinforced the way he wants his team to play in training on Monday and they responded with an excellent 1-0 victory over Oxford the following evening.

"Overall, it's where we want to be as a group," said Brady on Tuesday's win. "When we first came in, we wanted to change the energy and we wanted to change the style of play.

"The performance on Tuesday night was everything we really wanted and now, reflecting on Saturday, maybe, in a funny sort of way, we can look at it as a blessing in disguise for us.

"Maybe it was just a reminder for us because sometimes, through your poorer performances and your failures, you've got use them as reminders to get back on track and hopefully that was a reminder for us.

"We got back on track with the result on Tuesday but we now need to be consistent with that."

And that word - consistency - is likely to make the difference between survival and relegation for all the teams fighting for their safety at the bottom of League One.

"It shows character to bounce back but it also shows what they can do as a group when they're together and they're switched on and everyone performs," Brady added. "It's just all about finding that level of consistency, it's as simple as that."