'Spirit' and 'camaraderie' of current Cobblers squad is the best Brady has known in his football career

The ‘spirit’, ‘togetherness’ and ‘camaraderie’ within the current squad is some of the best Cobblers boss Jon Brady has experienced during his time both as a player and a manager.

Northampton’s promotion challenge hit the buffers with one win in seven games across January and February but they have battled to crucial 1-0 victories over Colchester and Crawley in the last week, the latter with 10 men, in addition to Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Harrogate.

Supporters, coaches and players, including substitutes, were all involved in the celebrations as Jack Sowerby’s thunderbolt saw off Crawley on Saturday and kept Cobblers in the promotion mix at the top of League Two. They are two points better off than at the same stage of last season.

"The most pleasing thing is to send the fans home happy,” said Brady. “They stuck by us today and we really wanted to give them a performance.

"You set up to play your best and sometimes the decision-making is a little inconsistent but we looked at a stat before the game and we were level on points with where we were last season, and now we have won this game, we are two points ahead.

"So, overall, over the whole of last season and three quarters of the way through this, the consistency level of the group has been really, really good and I feel we have created an expectation level.

"We set our own expectations on the inside and I don't think it's a huge expectation to win the league or go straight up but we have created that expectation and the players have created that through their performances and you have to try and live up to it.

"At times, we haven't, and we understand that, but the aim is to keep working hard and to keep improving. It's such a young group and with all the injuries it's been tough but the fight, the spirit, the camaraderie and the togetherness between everyone is probably some of the best I've known as a player or a manager.

"I watched Jack’s goal back and all of the subs came over to celebrate and everyone was together and that shows the togetherness of the squad."