Jon Brady provides update on Akin Odimayo and Shaun McWilliams after opening day clash

Cobblers boss Jon Brady provided an update on Shaun McWilliams and Akin Odimayo after Saturday’s opening day defeat to Stevenage.

McWilliams missed Town’s final pre-season friendly at MK Dons as a precaution last weekend, and whilst Brady had expected him to be involved against Stevenage, the midfielder did not make the squad.

"Shaun took a tackle at Kidderminster down the back of his Achilles and he's still having problems with it when he runs,” explained Brady after Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Sixfields. “It feels good but then he starts to overload it and it causes him a bit of pain so we'll have to see how that goes."

Odimayo played 45 minutes at wing-back on Saturday but did not reappear for the second half, and Brady confirmed that was for fitness reasons rather than tactical.

"Odimayo was a forced change,” he added. “He had to come off at half-time because he was feeling some achiness in his hamstring so we'll have to assess that and see how he is.

"I had to move Sam to wing-back and that was frustrating because I didn't really wanted to make any changes at half-time, but we were forced into it. That was on top of our pre-empted plans so we had to work around it a little bit."