Brady confirms Hoskins and Sherring are injured and will be assessed this week

Jon Brady has confirmed that Sam Hoskins and Sam Sherring are both injured and will be assessed this week after they missed Northampton’s back-to-back win over Lincoln City and Cheltenham Town.

Top scorer Hoskins, who has 12 goals in League One this season, was a surprise absentee from the squad against Lincoln last Friday, which prompted panic among some Cobblers supporters on social media who feared he was set to be sold with the transfer window about to open. Those fears were not helped when Hoskins also missed the win over Cheltenham on New Year’s Day.

However, it is understood that Hoskins has been managing a minor problem for the past few weeks and four games in 10 days proved too much for him. Brady has insisted on playing the ‘long game’ this season and is reluctant to take risks when players are carrying knocks or not quite fully fit.

Sherring suffered an injury and lasted just 22 minutes against Stevenage on Boxing Day and both he and Hoskins will be assessed later this week to determine the extent of their injuries.

"We're still waiting those two,” confirmed Brady. "I think people must have been wondering what was going on when they saw the team but I'm having to protect players and I'm trying to play the long game whilst also trying to win games at the same time.

“Both players are injured but because it's the Christmas period, we haven't been able to get in and see the doctors and see the people that we need to see.

"As of tomorrow (Tuesday), we'll be able to speak to those people and hopefully we'll have some news later in the week. It’s nice that we have a break now and we don’t need to immediately prepare for another game. That’ll be important for the players and it’ll be an opportunity to rest and have a little reset.”