Brady sees encouraging signs for Cobblers in friendly draw with Dundee United

Cobblers boss Jon Brady feels encouraged by his side’s pre-season progress after they drew 1-1 with Dundee United in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Friday.

Northampton beat St Mirren in their opening friendly on Tuesday and then rounded off their training camp in Scotland earlier this afternoon when Ali Koiki earned a hard-fought draw against Dundee United at St Andrews.

"It was another good test for us and a chance to build up more fitness,” said Brady. “A few players upped their minutes to 60 and others got 30 but we will mix that up again next week against Luton and West Brom.

"We have had a great time up here. The facilities have been brilliant and we are very grateful to Dundee United today for hosting us. It was a strongly-contested game.

"You could see they have some quality players but I thought we matched them and we did very well. There were certain things we worked on yesterday (Thursday) and the players took that on-board. Defensively, I thought we looked very strong and solid.”

Cobblers now head back to Sixfields where they will play two friendlies against Luton and West Brom next week.

Brady added: "It’s been really good. We had our time on the beach and we’ve done some quizzes and several other things. With our group, there’s no egos and we all pull in the same direction.

"I’m really pleased with the players so far and it’s been a very good tour. St Andrews is a fantastic place and we thoroughly enjoyed it – we’d be happy to come back!”