Brady confident Cobblers are back to their best after COVID hangover

Jon Brady believes the Cobblers are now getting back to their best after shaking off the cobwebs caused by a COVID-enforced three week break.

Town were sluggish in losing 5-2 at Swindon Town in their first game back and then lacklustre during the first-half of last week's defeat against Crawley Town.

They improved after half-time in that game before going toe-to-toe with league leaders Forest Green Rovers on Saturday as they picked up their first point in over a month.

"The tempo and the intensity of our game was much, much better," said Brady. "I wasn't happy with the first-half against Crawley and how lacklustre we were.

"But I had a sense after the Crawley game and the second-half especially that we were starting to get back to our best and then we had a really strong week in training.

"Against Forest Green, it was a really good game played at a hell of a pace and I think everyone could see that.

"That was us back to our full fitness. You can see we have been rusty but we were back to our full fitness and sharpness and I thought there were some great performances out there and I just hope the players take confidence from that.

"It can be a catalyst for the rest of the season but it just shows what we can do when we're at our best. We had momentum after the Harrogate game and it just feels like that if we can play like that, we can keep momentum moving forward again."

Brady was also delighted that his players kept fighting until the very end, getting their rewards when Mitch Pinnock smashed in a last-gasp leveller.

He added: "We sat at Sixfields in the summer and we faced our fans and asked them what they wanted and they just wanted hard work, not to give in and a team to be proud of.

"I think you could say every one of those things about the boys after that game."