Brady feels Cobblers deserve more credit after defying expectations all season long

Cobblers boss Jon Brady has challenged his players to defy expectations once again and produce a ‘fantastic end to the season’, starting with an Easter double-header this weekend.

Town have not always had the plaudits they deserve this season, particularly when you consider the majority of pre-season predictions had them in mid-table. Instead, they have spent most of the campaign in the top seven, and despite a recent wobble, remain well-placed in fifth with only five games to go.

Only once in the past 10 seasons – under Chris Wilder in 2015/16 – have the Cobblers won more games (19 and counting) than the current team, and you need to go back to 2005/06 for the last time they kept so many clean sheets (19).

There is a sense from some quarters that Town are not good enough to secure promotion from League Two and will inevitably drop out of the top seven by the end of the campaign, but Brady is determined to prove the doubters wrong once again.

"First and foremost, at the start of the season, we set out to win games of football and we have done that,” he said. “So far, with five games still to play, we have won 19 games - that's the most games this club has won in a season since Chris Wilder was here in 2015/16.

"We have only lost five games in the last 18 and all of them were by just a single goal so it shows we are in every game and it's very close.

"We probably weren't expected by most to be there or thereabouts throughout the season but we have been and we are still right in the mix with five games to go. We have and will give it everything we have.

"I think we have done brilliantly well with the group we have but we still have five games to go and I believe, if we can just find that cutting edge and that little bit of belief, we could still have a fantastic end to the season.”

Cobblers play twice over Easter, away to relegation-threatened Oldham on Good Friday followed by a home game against mid-table Harrogate on Monday.

Brady added: "Consistency is now the key and if we can replicate the performance against Bradford and continue to play with the same energy and tempo and have that organisation and be as fluid with the ball, I’m sure we will win more than we lose over the final five games.

"We are doing everything we can to put the ball in the back of the net. We are creating more chances, we are having a lot of entries into the final third and the way we press is really good.

"If we continue down that road, nine times out of 10 we will win games of football. Everything we are doing we feel is positive and now we just have to remain positive in what we do and I’m really pleased that the players still have that belief and that positivity.”