Harrop still in Brady's plans despite injury frustration

Josh Harrop is still in Jon Brady’s plans for the second half of the season despite picking up one or two ‘niggles’ that have prevented him from playing for the Cobblers since his arrival.

The 27-year-old midfielder, who was a free agent after leaving Preston in the summer, signed a ‘short-term’ contract at Sixfields last month and was on the bench against Swindon and Carlisle but then did not feature in the squad at all in the following two matches.

He remains part of Brady’s thinking though and returned to full training earlier this week, with Brady hoping he will be fit enough to make the squad when Cobblers head to Stockport County this weekend.

"Josh has worked intensely in training but he’s picked up a couple of niggles along the way,” said Brady. “He’s been back in full training this week but we need to build his fitness up.

"We have given him an opportunity and he’s working hard to prove himself. He’s done well in training but he hasn’t trained that much so he needs to do a fair bit more.

"But we know from his history that he is a good player and you can see technically he is very good and we hope to utilise his quality very soon.”

Asked if he intends to keep Harrop at the club beyond his current short-term deal, Brady said: “We are working on something to try to keep him in the building at least until the end of the season.”