Brady explains reason for formation change against Tranmere and reserves special praise for one man

The return of key midfielder Jack Sowerby was one of the reasons behind Jon Brady's decision to ditch his three-man defence and go back to 4-3-3 against Tranmere Rovers on Saturday.

A variation of 4-3-3 has been Brady's preference for much of the season but last month he changed things for the trip to Walsall and then stuck with either 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 for the following six games.

However, with promotion rivals and fourth-placed Tranmere Rovers in town for a big game on Saturday, the Cobblers reverted back to a four-man defence.

"It was more about the team and the players that I had to put out today because I felt it suited us," explained Brady. "Obviously we look at the opposition as well but they double bluffed us and changed their shape!

"But that shape has been good for us and we are always flexible enough within the group to change shape at any time and I feel that's really important."

And on Sowerby in particular, Brady was full of praise, adding: "He's been trying to keep his fitness up when he couldn't go out running and considering that's only his second game in a month, and he's only been on the grass for three days, I thought it was a fantastic performance from Jack.

"I didn't want to bring him off because he was brilliant."

Brady also feels the presence of Sowerby in midfield allows Cobblers to field a more 'balanced' team.

"I have talked a lot about the balance within the squad," he continued. "That was the first time I have been able to put out a real balanced team and I thought it made a hell of a difference.

"I thought we played some great stuff in the first-half, I really did.

"We talked about a few things at half-time and how we needed to come out in the second-half because the next 15 or 20 minutes were very important.

"It was hard to gain control against that wind but I felt, in moments, we showed a little more composure than we did on Tuesday night and it was a fantastic goal from Mitch (Pinnock) to make it 3-0.

"You felt we could then control the game but we didn't and in those last few minutes we changed shape and put an extra defender on. I'm just glad we saw it out."