Passing with purpose and pushing more men forward: Brady outlines what he wants from his Cobblers team

Cobblers caretaker boss Jon Brady has given a glimpse into how he would like his team to play ahead of Tuesday's trip to Ipswich Town.

Whilst the end result was the same, there was a clear shift in emphasis from Town during Brady's first game in temporary charge against Burton Albion on Saturday.

Cobblers finished with 55 per cent possession in that game - their highest count of the campaign - and played more passes than the opposition for only the second time all season.

Switching to 4-3-3, Brady also encouraged his full-backs and central midfielders to get closer to the penalty box, although he believes they still need 'freeing up' further.

"I still felt at times that our full-backs could have joined in a lot more because we wanted more combinations down the sides with overlaps and underlaps," he said.

"I feel at the moment they're locked in the mindset of 'I can't go, I can't go' so we have to free them up, but are you going to change that after two one-hour sessions?

"You need to feed it into them but I felt we moved the ball a lot quicker than we have done previously and it gave us something to build on."

Lloyd Jones had an early goal chalked off after being deemed marginally offside - a decision Brady did not agree with - while Ryan Watson cracked the crossbar and Sam Hoskins volleyed over, but that all-important first goal remained elusive.

"You score the first goal and I totally believe that we go on and win the game," Brady added. "We just need that first goal to give us a bit of relief.

"They're finding it hard to hit the back of the net but from looking at the stats, we had 200 passes more than we had previously and we played 100 more passes than the opposition.

"But there needs to be purpose with that. You don't just pass for fun, but we got these boys on the ball more than previously and we created more than we have previously and all that from the limited time we've had with them.

"It won't happen overnight but I think it was a step forward and I feel you can see positive change and you will see that again on Tuesday night."

Brady also believes his players still need to shake off their old way of thinking, adding: "I felt we looked more threatening towards goal and I think there were some really good patterns to our play, especially in that first 25 minutes when we dominated the opposition.

"We started to move the ball well but it's about changing the mindset in how we move that ball because at times, we punt it long and we're not getting our foot on the ball.

"We can play, we can find the space and move the ball quicker. They're just caught in that crossover at the moment in terms of trying to believe in what we want to do.

"There's been a real focus on coaching and helping the players to make a difference to individuals first and then putting that into a team shape, giving them pictures and patters and making sure they're connected to each other all over the pitch.

"They have to know each other's roles and responsibilities inside and out and when you've got that connectivity and that togetherness, only then can you start to become a real team.

"We were also being indecisive in important moments but there won't be any more of that."

Explaining his subs on Saturday when Michael Harriman and Ryan Edmondson replaced Shaun McWilliams and Danny Rose, Brady said: "I always want to try and win the game so we went to 4-4-2 and went more attacking.

"We had Mills on the left so we had a natural left-footer on the left and a natural right-footer on the right in Marshy, who created most of our chances on the day. We then had Sammy and Edmo up top."