Cobblers will get 'stronger and fitter' after tiring against Stevenage as Brady prepares to make changes for Swansea City

Manager Jon Brady says Cobblers will only get ‘fitter and stronger’ the more games they play as he prepares to make changes for Tuesday’s Carabao Cup first-round tie against Swansea City.

Northampton are effectively a week behind most other teams after starting pre-season late due to the fact they had so many players coming back from long-term injuries. That showed in the closing stages of Saturday’s opening game of the season against Stevenage when they ran out of steam.

"There were a lot of signs to be encouraged," said Brady. "The way we played in the first half was excellent, but we need to be consistent in our performances. We know opposition teams are going to have moments and it's about how we deal with those moments.

"It's a scrappy goal, let's get it right, but we carved them open so many times in the first half and we should have gone into half time at least one goal up. That's disappointing because you have to take your chances at this level.

"But you've got to take the positives. It was only a week and a half ago when I finally had an 18 that I was able to work with on the grass. That was the first time so we know our conditioning is nowhere near where it should be because players are recovering from long-term injuries.

"I'm not trying to make excuses and I'll never make excuses about that. We played well at MK last week but I could only play certain players for 45, 60 minutes. It's just building those minutes and we'll get fitter and and stronger, we know that.

"We’ve got to get results in the meantime but we will believe we will be stronger for it.”

Brady will base his team selection against Swansea this evening on who needs more minutes and who needs resting with wholesale changes expected.

"We knew it would be tough at the start of the season,” he added. “I had to take my captain off (against Stevenage) because I've got to manage minutes with players and I'm having to condition them through competitive games.

"You don't want to go into a season in this situation but it is what it is. We will have to manage minutes on Tuesday and it'll be mixing the team about and have a look at the rest of the group.

"Some players need more minutes so we’ll shuffle it around but we’ll take on the challenge against Swansea and we’re looking forward to it.”