Brady says Cobblers will never play for a draw even against the best in League One as Portsmouth head to Sixfields

Cobblers boss Jon Brady says he will never set out his team with the intention of not winning the game – even against the best teams in League One, such as Saturday’s visitors Portsmouth.

Town’s positive approach backfired when soundly beaten 4-0 on the road to Derby County in October, and they were also 2-0 down in 15 minutes at Bolton, but the merits of being proactive and not just sitting back were clear for all to see during Tuesday’s excellent 2-1 victory at Blackpool.

"Like we do in every single game, we go out to try and win the game,” said Brady. “I think people have seen that now. We never set out to get a draw or to sit back, we're a team that's always trying to win.

"Some days it might not look like that and it might not go to plan but I feel, over the last two and a half years, eight times out of 10 we've probably got it right.

"First and foremost our aim is to stay above that red line and maintain our League One status, but that's not all we want to do – we want to be really competitive in every game.”

Cobblers always carried a threat at Bloomfield Road on Tuesday, exemplified by Kieron Bowie’s well-taken opener, and even after being pegged back by Jordan Rhodes, they continued push men forward and they were rewarded with Sam Hoskins’ winner.

Brady added: "We will still committing bodies forward even when we were 2-1 up – Mitch (Pinnock) tried to chip the keeper from 40 yards! But that shows to the confidence and the belief to go and score the next one.

"Marc (Leonard) had a shot in the first three minutes. He could have played in Mitch for a one on one but the goalkeeper's made a great save. But that instilled belief and we really grew into the game. The way we played, the way we started and how we implemented the game plan, all of that helped us grow in confidence.”

Cobblers are in the relative safety of 13th in League One after three successive wins, and Brady believes his side’s recent good form is reward for their early-season performances, which were largely positive but did not always yield the points they deserved.

"We have played well pretty much all season,” he added. “OK, the Derby game was disappointing but they are a top side and apart from that, we were playing really well and there were some top quality performances, but we just weren't getting the draws or the wins that we deserved.

"But we've kept the belief and now we're starting to pick up points. We have never stopped believing in the way we play and we have really kicked on in the last couple of weeks. We target a certain amount of points in certain sections during the season and we're on track with that at the moment."