Cobblers' fitness 'nearly there' after 'agonising' few weeks for boss Brady

Cobblers boss Jon Brady believes his side’s fitness levels are close to where they need to be after going through the ‘agonising’ process of carefully and patiently managing his players’ workloads in the opening two weeks of the season.

Brady only had the majority of his players – including captain Jon Guthrie and key midfielder Jack Sowerby – back available midway through pre-season and even then their minutes were limited by the medical department.

After tiring in the season-opener against Stevenage, Cobblers looked fitter and stronger in the defeat to Wigan on Saturday. Eight players missed that game but half of those are being carefully managed given the events of last season.

"It's just that final 20 odd minutes but I feel we are nearly there and players are getting up to speed,” said Brady after Wigan scored twice in the last 20 minutes to beat Cobblers. “It's been agonising at times but I strongly believe, no matter how strong or fit we are, we should have finished that game off. Unfortunately we didn’t.

"We’re only two games in and we’ve spoken about how the group needs to get back to full fitness. We were only just getting some players back in the last two weeks of pre-season and we knew it would take three or four games to get the whole group up to speed.

"We were aware that we might be a little bit behind the eight ball but to play the way we have played in the first two games, and to know we can play that way, gives us real belief.”

Cobblers go into Tuesday’s visit of Lincoln City without a point on the board but the performances offer plenty of encouragement.

"We will do everything we can to try and get the win,” Brady added. “We've got to regroup, have a head count and give our fans a great performance and a great performance that results in points.

"We felt we deserved something on Saturday but those are the hard lines in football. We’ve hit the woodwork three times in the first two games and potentially we could have gone 2-0 up against both Stevenage and Wigan and come away with six points. Unfortunately we haven’t but there’s a lot to be positive about.”