Brady challenges Cobblers to 'pull away from the pack' as League Two promotion race hots up

Cobblers boss Jon Brady has challenged his team to string together a consistent run of results and 'pull away from the pack' ahead of tonight's game at Stevenage.

The League Two promotion battle is bubbling up nicely with just four points separating the Cobblers in second and Mansfield Town in ninth. Although Northampton currently look well-placed, five of the nine teams directly below them have at least one game in hand.

Four of those sides - Mansfield, Exeter City, Port Vale and Salford City - have two or three games in hand, making Town's grip on second place extremely vulnerable ahead of the mad dash for the finishing line.

It's another huge evening in League Two tonight with Mansfield's trip to Port Vale and Swindon's home game against Sutton United among the standout fixtures. Cobblers, meanwhile, go to badly out-of-form Stevenage and many feel victory is a must given the closeness of the table.

"We can't focus on how tight it is or anything like that," said Brady. "What we have to focus on is the next game and being the best we can be in that game and making sure we play how we know we can play at our best.

"Forget the league table, and then if you get that right the rest takes care of itself. I'll leave the hypotheticals up to other people. We have to be assertive in what we do and how we do it and just focus on the processes that we work through.

"If you play the way we did on Saturday, with a little bit of cutting edge to finish off the opportunities we created, nine out of 10 times you would be on the end of a winning result.

"We keep believing in what we do and keep working hard to create those opportunities. We are always striving for consistency because that's the key to success.

"We have only lost three in the last 13 but anyone who puts together consistent performances and a consistent run of results is going to pull away from the pack and that's what we want to do."

Paul Tisdale's Stevenage are just point point and three places above the dotted line.

Brady added: "Stevenage are quite an experienced bunch when you look at their players and the manager but they will have their threats.

"But we need to make sure we are better on the night to get a result. It's all about the next game and we will attack it and try and win it and hopefully this time we come out on the winning end."