Brady has seen 'positives' but says Cobblers have 'lots to work on' ahead of Wigan Athletic clash

Jon Brady has seen ‘positives’ from his side in the opening week of the season but admits there is also ‘lots to work on’ after two defeats against Stevenage and Swasea.

Cobblers lost a tight game against Stevenage on the opening day of the League One campaign but were second best to a quality Swansea City outfit in the Carabao Cup in midweek. They now go to Wigan Athletic for their first away game since returning to the third tier.

”It was a good challenge for us against a very good team who fielded a strong side,” Brady said. “We needed to mix minutes around and get players up to speed and I felt that was the most important thing on the night.

"It was good to get those minutes into players and get running into their legs and it should benefit us. There were a few bits and pieces that pleased me but there's still lots to work on and lots to sharpen up on.

"These games (Wigan) are what we fought for last season but it’s the opportunity to play everyone in League One, not just Wigan. We want to compete in this league and we want to be competitive on Saturday and we believe we will be.

"There’s lots of different challenges and all teams have their own styles and from a management point of view, we have to find different ways to nullify strengths and exploit weaknesses and that’s why we’ve jumped up a level – to test ourselves.

"We will stay true to our principles because it’s served us as well over the last two years and the players know their roles and responsibilities and we feel that’s important to the way we want to play.”

Brady is hopeful his players are nearing peak physical conditioning after a disrupted pre-season campaign, adding: "I thought our distances as a group on Tuesday were really good and we worked very hard. It was probably over and above because we had to work a lot out of possession and that’s natural against a Swansea team that are so good on the ball.

"But all of our markers were really good so that was important and encouraging. Obviously you want to be hugely competitive in every game but Swansea are on a different level. We did have that chance to get back to 1-1 early on and it might have been a different story, but the minutes and the running in the legs were really important for us.”

Shaun McWilliams and Harvey Lintott are both close to returning from injury but tomorrow’s game may come too soon.