Brady confirms Burge faces spell on the sidelines - but he's happy to sign replacement Tom King

Jon Brady has confirmed that goalkeeper Lee Burge faces a period on the sidelines due to injury.

The 30-year-old had started every league game for the Cobblers this season but came off at half-time during last weekend’s 2-1 defeat at Salford City.

Brady later revealed that Burge had sustained a calf injury and as such did not feature against Stockport County on Saturday, with new signing Tom King handed an immediate debut.

"Lee has a calf injury,” confirmed Brady. “How long that will be I don't really know at the moment.

"We’re pleased to to get Tom in and I thought he did well but didn't have to make too many saves. He made one good, strong save and there were a few from distance but we kept them to a minimum.

"For the last 30 minutes we were chasing the game and we might have been a little bit open but we tried to throw everything we had available at it an unfortunately nothing came off for us in the end."

Burge is just one of a number of injury concerns for the Cobblers at present. Jon Guthrie missed Saturday’s game due to illness while Aaron McGowan and Sam Sherring limped off in the second-half. Shaun McWilliams and Tyler Magloire were already absent.

"It obviously disrupts things because those players are so key to us,” Brady added. “Sometimes you just have to take it on the chin and hope other players step up to the plate and perform.

"I felt we had a strong foothold in the game in the first-half apart from conceding that goal. It's a frustrating moment but we stay together and there's a bit of work to do.

"It doesn't get easier and we knew that December and January would be really tough and you want your best players available for these games.

"We were in the game right up until the 60th minute and we had two great chances and their goalkeeper has made two incredible saves.

"The positive is that we are creating those chances. We have to take stock, there's a bit of work to do and we will assess what we have available."