Guthrie's return is a big boost for Cobblers and Brady

Jon Guthrie’s return to League One action was a big positive for manager Jon Brady.

After nearly two months out, the Cobblers captain was introduced at half-time alongside striker Louis Appéré during Saturday’s 3-0 defeat to Portsmouth.

"Louis and Jon came on at half-time and I just wanted to give a bit more energy to the team,” said Brady. “It wasn't a slight on anyone but it was an opportunity to get them on the pitch and give them some minutes. I looked ahead as much as in the moment and thought we could get back into the game as well.

"It was very important to get Jon some minutes. I haven't done a debrief so I hope he's come through OK but he looked good and he moved well. We've really sat on our hands with him and tried to play the long game and build his minutes. He had 30 minutes against MK and another 45 today so it's all good.”

Although frustrated with elements of his side’s performance against the new league leaders, Brady knows his side’s season will not be defined by these games.

He added: "I'm disappointed because I felt we could go toe-to-toe with them. We've taken nine points from the last 12 but we've built belief and the disappointment comes from the fact that you feel we could have done a lot better in a lot of moments in that game.

"That'll be learning and again we've got to improve, but we have bigger fights to fight and our next big fight is next Saturday. We've done well against teams around us in the table and that's what we've got to do again.”