Brady will not accept 'pressure' or 'tiredness' as an excuse for Cobblers

Cobblers boss Jon Brady did not believe fatigue, nor the importance of the fixture, had anything to do with his side's flat performance in defeat to AFC Wimbledon on Saturday.

Town failed to back up their excellent and important win over Oxford United on Tuesday when beaten 1-0 by Joe Pigott's 88th minute winner at Plough Lane.

Brady's men have had a busy recent schedule but he did not think that played a part in their disappointing display. It was also another defeat to a fellow relegation-threatened side, but again Brady was reluctant to blame his side's performance on the pressure of the occasion.

"If the pressure of the occasion is getting to you, then you shouldn't be a professional footballer," he said. "They've been in and around this position all season and now they have to welcome it and accept it and turn it into a positive.

"As a player, you should thrive in this moment. You want players to thrive, not hiding or being scared. I'm not saying they are but you've got to play the way we want to play.

"I think it's an excuse if you're saying they felt tiredness from Tuesday night because we recovered the right way, we've done everything right and we got the distances right throughout the week.

"You look at the energy of the second-half compared to the opposition. We flipped it round and we were the ones who were at it in the second-half without adding that quality in the final third."

Whilst the defeat was a painful one for the Cobblers, particularly after Sam Hoskins' stoppage-time penalty miss, Brady says they will pick themselves up and look to bounce straight back.

He added: "It's really hard to take but we're in a dogfight and the one thing you can never ever do is give in and you must never stop believing you can do this, even in your worst moments.

"We've had some bad moments and people have written us off. We're still in the mix with those six teams at the bottom and I think it's going to go close to the wire.

"Yes, other teams have games in hand but we're above the line at the moment and we will fight and scrap to the very end. You can't feel sorry for ourselves. You might have one night to do that but you then have to dust yourselves down, be brave and go again."