Cobblers looking up, not down, after Brady spots a chink in Exeter's armour

It's a case of looking up and not down for high-flying Cobblers after Tuesday's win at Exeter City, according to manager Jon Brady.

Town consolidated their top three spot in Sky Bet League Two courtesy of goals from Jack Sowerby and Mitch Pinnock at St James Park, securing a seventh win in nine league games.

The table remains tight though, with seven points separating Cobblers in second and upcoming opponents Harrogate Town in ninth.

Forest Green Rovers, who hammered Harrogate 4-1 in midweek, look away and gone, though Brady doesn't see it that way.

"I'd like to say we're looking up," he said. "We're trying to cling onto the coat-tails of Forest Green and chip away at them.

"We have some good momentum at the moment. We can't get ahead of ourselves but we're looking ahead and looking upwards on the table and trying to gain ground on Forest Green."

Speaking in more detail about his side's triumph at St James Park, Brady revealed he had tweaked formation after watching Exeter's FA Cup tie at Cambridge first-hand.

"Our shape gave Exeter a few problems and that's about us watching opposition and seeing how we can exploit them offensively and also nullify their strengths," Brady said.

"I'm in the mindset that we need to be flexible and adaptable and find different ways to win games, as we did on Tuesday.

"I felt we needed to do certain things against their back-line. Fortunately, I was able to and watch them against Cambridge on the previous Saturday and that really reinforced what I thought after seeing a lot of the clips which we had watched.

"We felt we needed two up against their top line and that Mitch would be the one who could create for us and I thought he was very effective in the game, especially in the first-half when he broke into their box a few times.

"He retained the ball well and made some good decisions to connect the play and that's something we felt was very important for us and we know Mitch can do that from his AFC Wimbledon days."