Jon Brady reacts to Cobblers' friendly defeat at Cheltenham and gives update on absent duo

Manager Jon Brady confessed the Cobblers need to ‘tidy up’ several aspects of their game after Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Cheltenham Town in their final pre-season friendly.

Northampton started on the front foot at Whaddon Road but Danny Hylton missed a 10th-minute penalty and the Robins took control once Alfie May fired them ahead on 34 minutes, with Dan Nlundulu adding a second shortly before half-time.

"You see things that are good and you see things that you certainly need to tidy up on and we got a mixture of both today,” admitted Brady. "That’s how the game went. We were quite good in the first-half but then I felt we became a little bit disjointed in the second-half.

"You always want more. There were some good moments, especially in the first-half, and there are moments where we need to be a lot better, in and out of possession.”

Cobblers start their League Two campaign against Colchester United next weekend and they could do so without midfielder Ben Fox and attacker Kieron Bowie, both of whom missed the trip to Cheltenham.

"Foxy has picked up a hamstring problem and he could be a couple of weeks,” revealed Brady. “With Kieron, we are just assessing his ankle and will have to see how he is.”

"We obviously hope to start the season well but, with us, we feel we will be improving over the first 10 games.”