Opposition view: Gillingham boss Harris backs Cobblers to win promotion after Sixfields defeat

Gillingham manager Neil Harris is backing Northampton to go on and win promotion this season after labelling Jon Brady’s team as ‘one of the best in the league’ following Easter Monday’s defeat at Sixfields.

Aiden O’Brien had cancelled out Louis Appéré’s first-half opener but the injury-ravaged Cobblers won it in spectacular fashion when Will Hondermarck let fly with a sensational strike on 82 minutes.

Leaders Leyton Orient appear beyond reach at the top of League Two but Northampton are now three points clear of three teams in the increasingly tight and tense race for promotion.

"There's a reason why Northampton are going to get promoted and that's because they are one of the best teams in the league," said Harris.

"It's 1-1 after 83 minutes and I didn't think there wasn't a lot in the game but that wasn't because we had played particularly well. It's a great strike to win it but do we get out of our box quick enough? Do we close the shot down? Do we give the ball away too cheaply in the build-up?

"These are the little things that are important to teams and that's why teams that are at the top of the league do things consistently well.

"At this stage of the season it's just about getting over the line in games and we did that against Doncaster the other day but today we have lost a very close game.

"That's been the case in League Two this season – there are a lot of close games. We made some poor decisions in the first-half so we changed shape at half-time and I thought we looked better.

"We were improved in the second-half and we had more control but didn't do enough to win it. I'm forming opinions all the time on these players and I will keep those to myself at the moment.”