Cobblers players received a 'rollicking' from Brady during half-time of Carlisle win

Cobblers may have taken a lead into half-time against Carlisle United on Saturday but that didn't save the players from being given a 'rollocking' by manager Jon Brady.

Town led 1-0 at the break courtesy of a fabulous counter-attacking goal from Paul Lewis, but up until that point they were disjointed and out-of-sorts against the struggling Cumbrians.

"I thought we started a bit slow but once we got into our rhythm and went through the gears, we had a bit too much for them," said Lewis.

"We got in at half-time and even though we were 1-0 up, the gaffer gave us a bit of a rollicking and told us it wasn't good enough, but in the second-half I thought we were better and we had too much for them."

Brady himself accepted the performance was not quite up to the desired level, but he also stressed the importance of being able to grind out wins over the course of a 46-game season.

"We had a word at half-time and I felt we were better in the second-half but we still weren't at our best," he said.

"It's not a bad thing because you can't always be at your best. With pre-season and everything, these players will play 60 to 65 games across the season and it's quite hard physically on the body to sustain the same level.

"We've played the same players for the last four games in a row and I think it showed today that we probably needed a bit of freshness."

Even so, Cobblers still produced some lovely moments, none more so than when Shaun McWilliams, Ali Koiki and Mitch Pinnock combined brilliantly to set up Lewis for the first of his three goals.

"Shaun's fantastic at that," Brady added. "He broke up their counter-attack with a really good tackle and then played a great ball out to Ali.

"It was really good combination play between Ali and Mitch with a little one-two and then Ali gets in behind their defence and it's an excellent cutback to the back stick and it's a tap-in for Pablo at the back stick and I'm so pleased for Paul."

Lewis added two more after half-time and then it was all about keeping another clean sheet, Town's fourth in a row.

They managed to do so but Brady knows stiffer tests lie in wait, adding: "No disrespect to Carlisle but we will come up against opposition who are in better form and we have to make sure that we stay strong and solid at the back.

"I felt today was a case of job done. It wasn't brilliant but we got the result."