Brady will not take risks with players' fitness despite lengthy injury list

Manager Jon Brady will weigh up all of the risks before deciding whether or not certain players are fit enough to start for the Cobblers at Rochdale on Saturday.

Town struggled before the introduction of forward pair Benny Ashley-Seal and Josh Eppiah during Tuesday's goalless draw with relegation-threatened Scunthorpe United.

Both men, especially Eppiah, had a positive impact on the game but they are only just returning from injury and whilst Brady would love to start them, this weekend might be too soon.

He said: "We would have liked to them to come on a lot earlier in midweek but they are both coming back from injury and we need to look after their minutes to make sure we aren't putting them at risk.

"Josh and Benny potentially came back a bit sooner than they should have but I'm told from a medical viewpoint how long they can play in terms of their minutes.

"If I overstretch that, it would be a huge risk of the injury recurring or creating other injuries and at the moment, with seven players out, I'm not in a place where I can take too many risks.

"People don't see that from the outside but we have not used the injuries as a negative. The medical department is working as hard as they can to get the guys back as quickly as possible."

And with still 14 games remaining, Brady is not prepared to play players in the short-term if it risks losing them for the rest of the season.

"It might be a different story if we only had two or three games to go but we still have almost a third of the season left," he added.

"There are so many trade-offs all of the time and I need to weigh up what's right and what would be the best thing to do overall and that's what we constantly do."

On Jack Sowerby and Louis Appere, Brady added: "They won't be out for as long as we first thought.

"They are trying to strengthen their injuries with Jack's knee and Louis' calf and we are just making sure they come back strongly and hopefully they will not be out for too much longer."

Shaun McWilliams is available on Saturday following suspension.