Cobblers' promotion credentials to be severely tested during demanding festive run

Cobblers might well be sitting pretty in third as things stand but the upcoming festive period will provide a true examination of their promotion credentials.

Surely no team in the division can have it any harder than Town over Christmas; they could barely have been handed a tougher, more challenging run of fixtures. In fact, if you take the period from last month’s trip to Bradford City all the way through to the end of January, Cobblers play 10 games, eight of which are against teams in the current top nine.

They have already beaten Carlisle and Bradford and will now face Mansfield twice, Barrow, Swindon, Salford and leaders Leyton Orient. It does not get more difficult and manager Jon Brady, whilst delighted with his side’s current points haul, knows these next few weeks could be absolutely crucial come the end of the season.

"We're happy with where we are but we can't sit back because we have a lot of tough games coming up over this next period and we play nearly all of the top seven or eight,” said Brady.

"We are coming off a really strong run of results and we want to face these next games head on and have a real go at the opposition and I think you could see we did that right from the off on Tuesday.

"We could have been frustrated by it but what was great was the mentality of the players. They were never frustrated, they kept going and going, even at 1-0 down, and kept believing and found a way to win.”

Cobblers play three games over Christmas and New Year against teams who are currently fifth (Mansfield), fourth (Swindon) and first (Leyton Orient). If they emerge with a decent points haul – four or more – they will be very well placed going into 2023.

"I think it’s really exciting,” Brady added. “We have put ourselves in this position and we are really looking forward to it because we want to take these games head on and thrive on them.

"It would be brilliant if we could really build momentum with our supporters home and away and come together as one over this period and up until the end of January. It’ll be through our performances that get us there and we are really looking forward to it.

"I’ve always loved Christmas because you get a different type of atmosphere and you get big crowds and big games and if you come out on top, there’s nothing better than that.”