Cobblers injury update - Jon Guthrie, Danny Hylton, Aaron McGowan, Lee Burge, Ben Fox, Ali Koiki, and Tyler Magloire

Jon Brady has delivered a mixed update on the seven players who are currently injured or on their way back.

Captain Jon Guthrie came through his first league start in two months unscathed despite some soreness but he will have to be managed over the busy festive period, while Lee Burge, Aaron McGowan and Danny Hylton are all close to returning.

McGowan missed the win over Fleetwood with a knock, goalkeeper Burge hasn’t played since October due to an injury picked up in training and Hylton is yet to feature at all this season following surgery in the summer.

Ben Fox and Ali Koiki remain sidelined until the end of January at the earliest and Tyler Magloire is due to step up his recovery from a serious knee injury over the coming month or so. The young centre-back hasn’t played since February.

"Jon came through OK,” said Brady on his skipper. “There is some soreness and stiffness and understandably so but it’s just managing him at the moment and we will pick and choose the games we feel he can play, especially over the Christmas period when you’re playing four games in 12 days.

"We’ll have to box clever over the next few weeks in terms of what we do and how we select players who might not be able to play every game.”

Asked about the rest of his injured players, Brady added: "Aaron just picked up a little twinge in training and we’ll see how he goes this week but it’s nothing too serious.

"Burge and Hylton aren’t far off returning but Foxy will probably be towards the latter end of January and I wouldn’t even want to speculate on Ali right now because he’ll be a bit longer.

"Tyler’s still doing well and he’s working really hard. He’s looking strong at the moment and I think we're potentially looking at around the middle of January when he’s able to get on the grass and start jogging again and that’ll be a huge step forwards for him.”