Cobblers boss Brady's focus is on hunting down the top two

The only way is up for Cobblers boss Jon Brady

Town sit in third place and are on a seven-match unbeaten run in the league.

They stretched their advantage over fourth-placed Barrow to five points with the 0-0 Sixfields draw with Tranmere Rovers eight days ago, and now have an seven point cushion when it comes to eighth-placed Swindon Town.

The Cobblers were denied the chance to add another three points to their tally on Saturday when the trip to Harrogate Town was postponed due to a frozen pitch.League Two was badly affected by the cold snap at the weekend, but in the matches that were played results were kind to Town, with Stevenage drawing 0-0 at home to Mansfield Town, and play-of chasing Swindon playing out the same scoreline against AFC Wimbledon.

The Cobblers are due back in action against sixth-placed Carlisle United at Sixfields on Saturday, and a win would see them open up a nine-point gap on the Cumbrians.

But Brady isn't worried about the chasing pack, he is more concerned abut claiming the points to close the nine-point gap between the Cobblers and top dogs Leyton Orient, and the five-point gap to second-placed Stevenage.

Although Town do now also have a game in hand on Steve Evans' side after they shared the points with the fifth-placed Stags.

Asked about the growing gap between the top three and those beneath them, Brady said: "I don't want to look at buffers to teams behind us.

"I want to look at what we do and I want to look ahead and up.

"That's the positive for us and we set ourselves mini targets throughout the season.

"We keep working to those targets and if we do, we will be there or thereabouts and achieve what we are aiming for."

The Cobblers' clash at Harrogate was called off after an 8am pitch inspection on Saturday.The pitch had been under covers, and on inspection on Friday afternoon the north Yotkshire side were confident the game would be able to go ahead.

But a sharp drop in temperature overnight on Friday put paid to that hope.

A statement on Harrogate website read: "Today's fixture against Northampton Town has been postponed due to a frozen pitch, following a pitch inspection on Saturday morning.

"A new date for the match will be announced in due course.

"Tickets and streaming passes for the original fixture will remain valid for the new date."