Brady reveals what 'pleasantly surprised' him about Cobblers' season - and makes an admission about their style of play

Cobblers boss Jon Brady admits he was ‘pleasantly surprised’ by the speed with which his team adapted and evolved right throughout the course of last season.

Town started out as a very organised and relatively direct team but gradually opened up as the season progressed, helped by January recruits, culminating in their best football and performances during the final weeks of the campaign.

That evolution was pre-planned by Brady and his staff, although even he was surprised by just how quickly his players developed and improved.

"I was pleasantly surprised,” admitted Brady. “I thought we would be a real hard-working group and first and foremost, what I wanted to do was build a team that was strong and resilient and as the season went by, we opened up a bit more.

"It was just trying to get those first few results at the start of the season and we managed to do that. I will admit that it wasn't the perfect way to play but we were trying to get positive results and put foundations in place and then the players started to gel together and we were able to find a better way to play.

"We did that in the last three months and it helped us to build a foundation early in the season. That was really important for us. It was a real conscious effort to go step by step because we didn't want to miss out any steps and jump forward too early.”

And it was not just the team which improved, individual players did too. Fraser Horsfall, Shaun McWilliams and Sam Hoskins are three players who have come on leaps and bounds under Brady’s management, while young strikers Kion Etete and Louis Appéré also developed their game.

"It was about finding a way to get results with the group we had at first and then building on the strengths of the players and more and more, as the games went by, we understood what the players could do,” Brady continued.

"That's where the individual improvement came and then when you see that growth in a player and improvement, you utilise it to the team's benefit and within our structure, individual players really came to the fore.

"You could go name 10, 12, 14 players who really grew and improved over the season. For someone like Sam Hoskins to get 13 goals and eight or nine assists, and to see the growth in him, and others like Shaun McWilliams, it's so pleasing from a coach's perspective and for all of us as staff.

"You could go through the whole group and the staff as well, the effort they put in to try and improve players and improve the team was huge."