Brady facing juggling act due to injuries and busy schedule

Jon Brady is facing something of a juggling act this week due to a combination of injuries and a busy schedule.

Cobblers play four league games in 11 days and will do so without some key players. Captain Jon Guthrie and midfielder Jack Sowerby are still recovering from issues while Louis Appéré and Ben Fox joined the injury list before Saturday’s game against Bolton. With Max Dyche, Tyler Magloire and Danny Hylton also all out, Brady could be missing seven players for the next three games.

"We had seven out and you can’t go to Bolton and have so many big players missing,” said Brady. “Louis is working hard to get back but Tuesday will probably be too soon.

"We had to look after Kieron (Bowie) at the weekend because he played two games for Scotland and that took a lot out of him emotionally and physically, but it was good for Jordan (Willis) to get his debut and he added to the team.

"Ali (Koiki) brought some pace and power on the left and Will (Hondermarck) added his energy as well so all of the subs made a difference and added some impetus.

"But I'm having to build the minutes with Ali and Will and that's going to be tough with the schedule. We'll let the dust settle but you would liked to have that sort of energy in the team. But we will need to assess them and see if they are able to start on Tuesday.”

Cobblers have arguably produced their two worst performances straight after international breaks this season having lost on the road to Port Vale and Bolton.

"You try and get the rest right but it was exactly the same after the last international break against Port Vale,” Brady added. “It's just the start of the game that wasn't right. I talked to the players about that in the dressing room afterwards because it was really frustrating to start the way we did.

"However you juggle it, you're trying to do the right thing and get the balance right, and maybe it's just a coincidence that it's happened twice. We were stretched all over the pitch but you can't say that was because we didn't rest right.”