Delight for Brady after half-time tweak helps in-form Cobblers edge past Cheltenham Town

Cobblers boss Jon Brady showered more praise on his players after their terrific run of form continued with a gutsy 1-0 victory over rejuvenated Cheltenham Town on New Year’s Day.

This was always likely to be a slog of a game given the conditions at Sixfields, the frenetic festive schedule and Cheltenham’s impressive form under Darrell Clarke and that’s how it played out in a goalless first half.

But Brady switched to 3-5-2 at half-time and subsequently his side carried more of a threat and caused more problems for Cheltenham, with Kieron Bowie’s well-taken penalty, his sixth goal in nine games, clinching Town's seventh win in 10 and lifting them to ninth in League One.

"We had to really dig in to get the result today," said Brady. "People won't realise just how heavy the pitch was and how hard Cheltenham worked but we knew it would be one hell of a fight.

"I labelled them Stevenage 2.0 with how they play and that's how we prepared and it's no disrespect to them because Clarkey has got a huge tune out of them and they are one of the most in-form teams in the league.

"They don't let you get out and they don't let you breathe and we tried to play but it was just so difficult because they suffocate you so we had to change shape at half-time.

"I thought it worked a lot better with two up front in the second half and to win and score the penalty was great. It was a shame that we didn't finish the game off earlier because we had chances to score more goals.

"But overall, to get nine points from 12 over the Christmas period is a brilliant effort and full credit to the players – it's put us in a good place in the table."