Brady ready to be 'abused' by his Peterborough supporting friends as Cobblers and Posh go to battle

Cobblers boss Jon Brady says his players are well aware of the importance of the club’s rivalry with Peterborough United ahead of tonight’s meeting at London Road – but they will still approach it like any other game.

Town have not done the league double over Posh for nearly 40 years – since 1986/87 – but they have the opportunity to change that tonight after Mitch Pinnock’s freak late winner in the reverse fixture back in August.

Peterborough’s promotion charge was derailed by four successive defeats last month but back-to-back wins over Cambridge United and Exeter City have kept them in contention at the top of League One.

"The boys know the significance of this game,” said Brady. “It's a local derby but the process and the way that we approach it doesn't change. They are another team where we'll be looking to nullify strengths and exploit any weaknesses.

"Peterborough have dne brilliantly this season and they have a good, young squad that's playing exciting football. We got a positive result against them earlier in the season but that's gone now.

"They are very fluid in the way they play and they don't just keep the ball for the sake of it. They are very purposeful and very progressive and we have to try and nullify that. You might have to suffer at times, we understand that, but we have to make our own luck and we've been in good goalscoring form of late.”

Having lived in the region for over 30 years, Brady does not need telling how important tonight’s game, especially as many of his friends support either Cobblers or Posh.

He added: "I've got some good mates who are Peterborough fans and I've had a few texts from them and got a bit of stick. They'll be abusing for 90 minutes on Tuesday and then they'll call me their mate after full-time but it's all a bit of fun.

"It's a strong rivalry but it's a healthy rivalry and I have huge respect for Darren Ferguson and Scarfy (Kieran Scarf, assistant manager) and what they've done at Peterborough. There's respect but when the whistle blows we are out there to win the game. It's a tough challenge but we'll attack it head on."

On team news, the big question mark centres around the fitness of defender Jordan Willis, who came off at half-time against Charlton on Saturday due to injury.

Brady added: "We took a bit of an injury with Jordan and had to make a change at half-time. We changed shape and shuffled the pack around but to be able to put on a few of the players that we wanted to get minutes was really positive.

"We'll see how Jordan is. He's been a warrior for us this season and he's played a lot more than he ever expected, we spoke about it the other day, so I hope it's not too serious. Fingers crossed but we'll leave it late.

"You want your best players fit because it does make a difference and it's hard when you are chopping and changing all the time.”