Calderwood explains why Cobblers pair missed first friendly against Brackley
Jack Baldwin and Kamarai Swyer were both absent from Saturday’s friendly against Brackley Town for precautionary reasons as Cobblers took a ‘safety first’ approach to their opening pre-season fixture.
Other than injured trio Tom Eaves, Liam Shaw and Jon Guthrie, who are all out for the long-term, new signing Swyer and central defender Baldwin were the only senior players to miss out in the goalless draw at St James Park.
Baldwin underwent knee surgery at the end of last season and is still working his way back to full fitness, while Swyer picked up a knock in training. Both men are expected to be involved in the coming weeks.
"It’s safety first,” said technical director Colin Calderwood. “Kamarai has just had a little niggle and he missed a period of training so we kept him out. We’ll look at him this week because he needs to play catch up and get a volume of work in before Spain and then we’ll see where we are with him.
"Jack’s done really well but we felt it was best to keep him away from the game today. He’s probably a fortnight behind Sam (Hoskins) in terms of his preparation and recovery but he’s done great. He’s trained a lot more with the group and done more minutes with the ball than anyone thought he would at this stage.”