Brady considering changes as he warns Cobblers not to take Shrewsbury lightly

Cobblers boss Jon Brady could be tempted to make changes to keep things fresh when his side visit Shrewsbury Town in League One this weekend.

Northampton made the 380-mile round trip to Exeter City last Saturday and put in a big effort to win 2-0 at St James Park, and they followed that with another energy-sapping performance in beating Reading 3-1 on Tuesday.

Brady picked the same side for both of those games but he could shake things up as Cobblers look to make it nine points from nine against Shrews on Saturday.

"It's definitely something to consider with the performances we put in and the amount of energy and distance covered by the players in both games,” said Brady.

"They went down to Exeter and got the result and it's one hell of a journey back, over five hours, but then to have the energy we did against Reading, and to start like we did, hats off to the group.

"They deserve all the plaudits they get. We've asked for more consistency in the way we play and to deliver two performances like that in a row takes a big effort. We've not always got the rewards we felt we have deserved this season but we have been a lot more clinical in the last two games.”

Shrewsbury have lost four of their last five league games but Brady knows as well as anyone that results can be misleading.

He added: "We have to make sure we're at our best. I've watched Shrewsbury's previous games and they've been in pretty much every single game and they created some great chances.

"I watched them against Orient and they could have been two or three goals up in the first 15 minutes. They haven’t taken their chances and they're being punished at the other end but what we see is a strong, competitive team and we need to make sure we're at our best to nullify their threats and try and exploit any weaknesses.

"We won't get ahead of ourselves. It's another tough challenge, like every game at this level, and it's relentless, but we have to make sure we're ready for this tough period because we're going into the winter months and it's going to be hard so if we can keep everyone fit, it'll be a huge bonus."