Praise for Brough and McWilliams as Brady lauds quality of Cobblers' two goals in win over Exeter

Cobblers boss Jon Brady hailed the quality of his side’s two goals against Exeter City on Saturday and he was particularly thrilled to see Patrick Brough open his account for the club.

The left-back, a summer signing from Barrow, has been threatening to score all season, missing good chances against Stevenage and Wigan in particular, and finally his goal arrived during an excellent 2-0 win for Northampton at St James Park.

The 27-year-old showed superb stamina and running power to go from one end to the other and tap home Kieron Bowie’s cutback in stoppage-time, wrapping up a well-deserved away victory.

"For him to get up with play there and to get in that position was fantastic,” said Brady. “I think most full-backs would sit in and make sure we closed it off defensively but he showed that hunger and desire to get his goal.

"I'm really pleased for him. We have talked about a couple of things with his finishing. I won’t go into detail but he could easily have scored four or five goals already this season.

"I know that and he knows that but it's brilliant for him to get his goal and it's testament to his work ethic because he's never stopped believing and he keeps going and he got his rewards.

"It was so unselfish from Kieron (Bowie) and we had a lot of opportunities like that in the second half but the most important thing was to close the game out and in the end we did that.”

Before Brough finished things off with a superb counter-attacking goal, Cobblers had opened the scoring with another fine strike as Shaun McWilliams played through Sam Hoskins to net his fourth of the season.

"Shaun had a very good game,” Brady added. “His energy, his athleticism and his speed in midfield is brilliant and his use of the ball was really good. The pass and the assist for Sam, to see that run, was exceptional. The weight of pass was perfect and Sam made a great run and finished it off.

"He's running from 35 yards out and he's stuck it in the corner. It's an excellent finish against a goalkeeper who I think is a very good goalkeeper.”