Brady has no regrets over his team selection against Ipswich Town but admits Cobblers' bold approach backfired

Cobblers manager Jon Brady had no regrets over his team selection or tactics for Tuesday’s Papa John’s Trophy tie with Ipswich Town despite the scale of their defeat on a tough night at Portman Road.

Town made six alterations from the weekend and fielded a defence that featured three players who were short on game-time and match fitness, including two 19-year-olds and a 22-year-old.

It was always likely to be a long evening in East Anglia and Ipswich showed no mercy in racking up a 6-0 victory. Nonetheless, with a demanding schedule and priorities elsewhere to consider, Brady would not have picked a different team even in hindsight.

"That's the way we had to go,” he said. “We respected the competition and made sure we played enough players to fulfil the criteria but we had to protect some players for the weekend.

"But you look at the experience and the wealth of experience they had out there, they have top, top League One players who are aiming for the Championship.

"It was just a real tough examination for some of the younger players. It's great experience for the likes of Josh Tomlinson and Max Dyche and I thought Max grew into the game.

"The combined age of our centre-back pairing at the end was 35 and they had Richard Keogh who is 35 himself and he's on a different level. There are loads of learning for the young players.”

Perhaps more relevant than the team selection, Cobblers’ bold approach to the game backfired. They looked to push numbers up the pitch and press from the front, however Ipswich had too much guile and class and just played through and around their visitors to create countless attacking opportunities.

"We knew the outcome would potentially be tough but the one thing we didn't do was sit back and sit in a block,” Brady added. “We did try and really press them and have a go at them early on and be brave.

"Unfortunately our timing was out and our distances were out and they played through us – but I would rather have a go than sit back and invite loads of pressure. They sliced us open and that's how they scored most of their goals.”