'Light at the end of the tunnel' on injuries as Cobblers prepare for Brackley trip

Town continue their pre-season preparations on Saturday when they make the short trip to Vanarama National League North neighbours Brackley Town (ko 2pm).

And it could be the case that a few more of the squad's many walking wounded from the back end of last season will be introduced to the fray.

Tuesday night's 1-0 defeat at the hands of Birmingham City saw Ali Koiki, Akin Odimayo and Jack Sowerby play their first minutes of pre-season.

Others, such as Aaron McGowan, Jon Guthrie, Ben Fox and new signing Manny Monthe have yet to feature, but are getting ever closer.

"The real highlight for me on Tuesday was to get Ali (Koiki), AK (Akin Odimayo) and Jack Sowerby on the pitch and they ended up playing close to 25 minutes, which was really promising," said Brady.

"We are trying to integrate them back into the team and it's really great to have them back.

"It's been a meticulous process between ourselves and the medical staff in terms of how we navigate our way through pre-season and how we integrate the injured players back into the team.

"I said all along that it might feel a bit skinny, and it has done and it's been hard work in pre-season.

"We've been without nine first-team players but there's light at the end of the tunnel with the boys coming back into the fold."

Whereas several players have had hardly any minutes some others have been heavily involved, and Brady admits another priority is making sure they are not asked to do too much.

"The other players are playing a lot of minutes and we have to look after them," said the Cobblers boss.

"That's part of the consideration - to look after them and not to overwork them.

"I thought Sam (Sherring) was excellent on Tuesday and you could see that he's got some sharpness coming back and it's now about how we introduce the rest of the team, especially those injured players, in the next few games."

The Cobblers have so far used a lot of trialists in their pre-season matches, and that trend is set to continue at Brackley.

"We've been open with all of the trialists," said Brady.

"There's one or two that we're looking at and there's others we're helping to get minutes and they're helping us fill spots in the team at the moment.

"That's just what we're having to do. It's good for them and at the same time it's helped us."

After the weekend date with Brackey, the Cobblers head to National League outfit Kidderminster Harriers, before wrapping up their pre-season at Milton Keynes Dons next Saturday (July 29).