Cobblers boss Brady pleased by 'good run-out' against Brackley Town

Town secured their first goals and win of pre-season, with goals from trialists Hayden Lindley and Khanya Leshabela securing the victory at a very wet and very windy St James Park.

On a day of mainly pluses, there was also a Town debut for summer signing Manny Monthé, and first minutes on the pitch since last season for Jon Guthrie, Aaron McGowan and Ben Fox – the latter having not played since suffering an ankle injury on February 14.

Brady once again rotated the players coming back from injury in his squad, with Jack Sowerby, Akin Odimayo and Ali Koiki all rested after they played for the first time in pre-season in Tuesday's loss to Birmingham City.

There were again five trialists named to bolster the squad to take on Vanarama National League North side Brackley, who narrowly missed out on promotion last season, losing in the play-off final.

Town won it thanks to those goals either side of a Gareth Dean header for the hosts, and the Cobblers could even afford to miss a last-minute penalty from Louis Appere after Leshabela had been bundled over the box.

“That was a very strong Brackley side, and I thought the were really good and made us work very hard. It was a good run-out for us,” said Brady.

“It is still a little bit disjointed for us, to get those connections with the team, and the most important thing is that we are feeding the injured players back into their match minutes.

“I think that is really the most important thing for us, that we build those match minutes for the boys coming back.

“The process we have been trying to do it has been meticulous, and it has been very difficult, but bit by bit we are edging towards building those minutes into those players.

“It is important they come through and we don't push them too hard.”

The Cobblers enjoyed long spells of possession, but in the first half in particular struggled to create chances, and Brady is confident that will soon change.

“Organisation out of possession is okay at the moment, but in possession we can be a lot better,” said the Town boss.

“There is still two weeks to go (to the start of the season), but there's a lot more to build on and that is going to be key for us.

“Obviously we will work towards that over the next couple of weeks.

“We have Kidderminster on Tuesday and then MK Dons, and then it is the first game of the season against Stevenage and we are working to that.

“You don't get points for these pre-season games, and now the guys are touching a ball, they are on the grass, they are getting some minutes, now we will be really able to step up our levels.”