First point on the board is 'psychologically important' for Cobblers

Manager Jon Brady believes chalking up their first point of the new League One season was important ‘psychologically’ for the Cobblers following Tuesday’s last-gasp 2-2 draw against Lincoln City at Sixfields.

Town have largely performed well so far this season but they were staring down the barrel of going pointless from their first three league games when trailing 2-0 to Lincoln after goals from Reeco Hackett-Fairchild and Paudie O’Connor.

But Louis Appéré halved the deficit four minutes from the end of normal time before Sam Hoskins hauled Cobblers levelled with virtually the last kick of the game as they put their first point on the board.

"I think psychologically and for our belief it's important to have that first point on the board, and the way we played certainly warranted a minimum of a point,” said Brady. "We still need to be better in certain moments but we're building and we're trying to improve. There will be bumps in the road along the way, especially at this level, but it's about us improving all the time.

"I thought we looked stronger towards the end of the game for the first time in my opinion. We had them penned in for most of the second half and I felt we looked a lot stronger.”

For the third game running Cobblers conceded a superb long-range strike as Hackett-Fairchild picked out the top corner at Sixfields on Tuesday, but Brady’s side responded well and were thoroughly deserving of their point.

"The first goal is another cracking strike,” the Town boss added. “It's a great touch and hit and sometimes you just have to hold your hands up, but on the second one we know we have to be better.

"This is what happens at this level. That's two already with (Callum) McManaman's on Saturday. It's a step up in quality and you get punished but we never dropped our heads, which was fantastic to see. We kept believing in the way we want to play and I think that's the most pleasing thing. We kept fighting until the death.”