Brady explains reasons behind switch to new-look front three against Crewe

Hoskins, Marshall and Miller led the line for Town
Jon Brady and Marc Richards.Jon Brady and Marc Richards.
Jon Brady and Marc Richards.

Jon Brady has explained the logic behind his decision to switch things up and play a new-look front three against Crewe Alexandra on Saturday.

Ryan Edmondson and Jack Sowerby, who was injured, dropped out of the team with Bryn Morris and Mark Marshall the men coming in.

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Marshall and Mickel Miller started on the wings while Sam Hoskins played through the middle, but the afternoon ended in disappointment for Town who slumped to a meek 1-0 defeat.

Brady had a rare full week on the training pitch but his work with the players went unrewarded as Cobblers failed to register a single shot on target.

"We tried to play with a smaller guy up top today with Sammy because we felt we could play a bit more football - we wanted to play today," explained Brady.

"We didn't end up playing and we went long onto (Omar) Beckles' head and the other centre-back's head, but we needed to play through the lines, get on the half turn and slip Sammy in.

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"That was our thinking because we had worked on our movements to try and get between those lines and to get Sammy in.

"We freed him up once and he got a good cross in and to be fair, Mickel got pulled back. It's unbelievable. He tried to slip it in but the defender has dragged back on his shoulder.

"We didn't get the rub of the green there but I'm not going to moan because I'd rather be harder on ourselves - we need to be better."

Brady also revealed that he took Edmondson out of the firing line partly due to issues away from the pitch.

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He added: "Edmo's played five or six games in a row and he's worked very hard but off the pitch he's having a very tough time personally with a few things.

"We have tried to manage that but I felt he needed to come out and a have a rest to refresh."