How Jon Brady and Colin Calderwood plan to get Cobblers out of their current slump and back to their best

Scoring the first goal and cutting out defensive lapses are at the top of Jon Brady’s list of priorities in his quest to help Cobblers regain their best form following an indifferent few weeks.

It’s full focus on the league from here on in for the Cobblers after their FA Cup exit last weekend and they return to League Two action with a trip to third-from-bottom Gillingham on Saturday.

Gills stunned Premier League Brentford in the EFL Cup in midweek but Town will be favourites to claim three points at Priestfield and they have had a free week to iron out any kinks and work on how they can find their best form again.

"We want to see that our energy and tempo doesn't drop and our attitude doesn't drop,” said Brady. “We keep to our principles and make sure our structure remains strong. There is a bit of tine-tuning that we need to do and we are doing that currently in the week.”

One aspect that would make a big difference immediately is scoring first in games. Whilst they were the best in the league for doing so last season, across the last 10 matches in both the league and the FA Cup, Cobblers have gone 1-0 up just twice.

"We have made mistakes but we have also made amends for them within games,” Brady added. “We are right up there in the whole EFL for points won from losing positions this season so that's a real positive.

"But I would rather score first, score again and then finish the game strongly! That's what you would want in an ideal world but we knew this will be a work in progress.

"Our mindset last season was to score the first goal. Tactically we need to be better and individually we need to be better in certain moments but first and foremost, it's the mindset of us attacking the game and getting the first goal.

"That hasn't happened of late so we need to build on the mindset and our approach and then work on things tactically, individually and technically."

Another contrast to last season is at the back. Town boasted one of the best defensive records in 2021/22 but, at present, they are being undermined by individual errors and lapses of concentration, although Brady believes a big reason for that is the lack of continuity in team selection.

"It's about connections all over the pitch but we haven't been able to get any consistency with that, especially in our back-line,” he added.

"We haven't been able to play the same back four week in, week out. Of course injuries are part and parcel of football at times but I would say we have had extreme circumstances.

"On average, we have had five plus players either out injured, ill or suspended for every game this season but we have found another way and in doing that we have developed our younger players which is a real positive.”