Cobblers 'not patting ourselves on the back' as Brady sets his players new targets

Cobblers might be on the verge of securing their League One status for another season but there will be no ‘patting ourselves on the back’ with manager Jon Brady demanding his players maintain their high standards.

Town are up to 48 points, already more than they managed in each of their last two League One seasons (2017/18 & 2020/21) despite still having 12 games to go. They are also a massive 15 points clear of the relegation zone.

Avoiding relegation back to the fourth tier would have been the main aim for most supporters before the season started but whilst that’s seemingly been achieved already, Brady will not allow his players to take their foot off the pedal, even after Saturday’s excellent win at Burton.

"We're not patting ourselves on the back,” said Brady. “This league is unrelenting and if you think you can sit back and have done the job, it will catch you out.

"Yes, we're doing well and we are on target but we have to stay grounded and keep working hard. We've played five games in 16 days so for the guys to come out and deliver what they did against Burton, in a bruising encounter, was excellent. They stood up to the challenge and this group go to the death all the time.

"It's testament to their character and I believe these players have an inner-drive to just keep going and keep pushing and finish the season strongly.”

Although Cobblers are virtually safe, Brady and his staff have set their own targets which still need to be met between now and the end of the season. They work in five-game sets and aim to hit a certain number of points within those blocks.

"Now that we're getting bodies back it would be nice to finish the season strong but we have to hit our goal in our five-game sets,” Brady added.

"The win against Burton does that in this block and now we move onto the next five-game set. We have set ourselves our own targets this season and we still have a few goals to achieve. We always keep trying to look forward.

"We aim for a certain amount of points over five-game periods and the maths of that and how we do it is kept between us. We've hit our target across these last five games and now it’s onto the next one.”