Brady confirms Cobblers are 'looking' at signing another forward

Jon Brady has confirmed the Cobblers are hoping to bolster their forward ranks before the start of the new season, but he's also warned they will not be 'forced' into anything.

Brady currently has four options at his disposal at the top end of the pitch following Harry Smith’s exit, but he could be without two of those – Danny Rose and Benny Ashley-Seal – for this Saturday’s friendly against Birmingham City.

Rose has missed the last two friendlies for an unspecified reason while Ashley-Seal limped off during the first-half of Tuesday’s defeat to Nottingham Forest.

Cobblers have signed 10 players so far this summer but are still hoping to strengthen in a couple of positions. Left-back is the priority, as evidenced by a third different trialist in the position on Tuesday, but a new striker is also not out of the question, though Brady will bide his time.

“Yes, we are looking,” confirmed the Town boss after Tuesday’s game. “As I’ve said, we have one or two areas that we are looking at.

“You can see where we might be lacking numbers at the moment and obviously we’re looking but we’re not going to force anything – we’ll see how we go.”

Ashley-Seal made a bright start against Forest but took a heavy knock early on and eventually had to limp off.

"What they (Forest) were clever at, and something they probably wouldn't get away with in a normal match, was that every time we were in and broke on them, they scythed us down," Brady added.

"As a result, Benny had to come off. I hope it was more precautionary but it was nice to see him start on the front foot and link up well with Nicke (Kabamba) - I thought it was really encouraging."