Brady urges Cobblers to keep being 'aggressive' after reaping the rewards against Stevenage

Jon Brady will keep encouraging the Cobblers to be 'aggressive' out of possession after they reaped the rewards from their high-energy, high-pressing approach with successive wins this week.

Both Mansfield and Stevenage were sent away from Sixfields empty-handed as Town returned to the top seven in Sky Bet League Two.

A key reason for Cobblers' strong start to the season has been their work off the ball, both in terms of keeping clean sheets and pressing opponents high up the pitch.

That was in evidence on Tuesday night when Mitch Pinnock was in the right place to pounce on a slip in Stevenage's defence before Sam Hoskins eventually doubled the lead.

"You can see me on the touchline that I'm trying to drive the players on most of the time," said Brady. "It's about trying to instil that belief because when we do press, what we haven't done at times is stay connected right through the midfield to the back-line.

"Now, at the moment, we're in a good moment and you can see we have condensed the play and we're quite connected with it.

"I want us to be aggressive because by being aggressive, you put pressure on players and players make mistakes and we get interceptions and that's how we can counter.

"We have got a lot of turnovers in the opposition third and that's pleasing because it shows the work we're trying to do and it shows that at the moment it's paying off."

Both Stevenage and Mansfield came to Sixfields in poor form and they struggled to make any impression in either game, managing just 11 shots between them and only three on target.

But Brady felt his side deserved credit for making their opponents look as average as they did.

"People may think that Stevenage or Mansfield didn't play well but I felt we didn't let them look at their best," added Town's chief.

"Credit to us because of the way we played and the way we set out and the intensity we worked at. If we can work at that intensity, we can make opposition not look as good and we can look the better team.