Brady hopeful Cobblers will see Eppiah back to his best after consecutive starts

Manager Jon Brady is hopeful that the Cobblers will see much more of Josh Eppiah over the second half of the season after an injury-plagued few months.

The Leicester City loanee returned to Sixfields on a season-long loan last summer but only made his first league start of the campaign against Leyton Orient recently. He had started just one other game – a Papa John’s Trophy tie – since the play-offs in May.

However, he got through 72 minutes at Salford City on Saturday and will now be desperate to string a run of games together to regain his match sharpness.

"Any player who has been out for that length of time is going need a bit of time,” said Brady. “You're talking seven or eight months really because it was back in May when he took that huge hit off (Stephen) McLaughlin in the play-offs.

"We tried him for 20 minutes in the Papa John's Trophy but I wouldn't put that down as a start. It was just trying to get him some minutes in a different way.

"Last week was his first proper start since the play-offs so to deliver what he's delivered, we're very happy with him. We know there's so much more to come but at the moment it's about building his minutes."

Eppiah has battled injury nearly all of his career but he showed what he’s capable of when fit with a run of matches at the back end of last season.

"He's showing more robustness now,” Brady added. “Every time I speak about this it seems to bite me in the backside but he's been training a lot more than he did last season and you can see the quality he has.

"When you're trying to build those minutes into a player like him, it takes time but he makes a difference. At the moment, he can have a real strong run but then two or three minutes later he will probably have to pass the ball off when he gets it.

"But when we get his fitness right and he feels good, which will probably take five or six games, he will be able to get that ball and go again. That's when you are really building that strength and stamina and we hope, bit by bit, we are getting him there."