Week on the grass has been vital for Cobblers to reset ahead of FA Cup tie

A week without a Tuesday fixture could not have been better timed for the Cobblers who have used the opportunity to get out on the grass and fix certain ‘errors’ before their FA Cup tie at Chesterfield.

Town head to Derbyshire on the back of successive home draws against Sutton United and Newport County in the league, both of which were disappointing for different reasons. Brady’s side let a two-goal lead slip to draw 2-2 with Sutton and were then completely out-of-sorts before snatching a fortunate late point against Newport.

"At different stages of the season you will go through ups and downs and at this moment we have not got the results we expected in the last two games,” manager Jon Brady admitted.

"But there's no divine right to win games at this level, you have to earn the right and we are humble in our approach, but we can't continually do that with limited numbers and limited bodies.

"I think the important thing for us now is to get on the grass because that's where we can work with the players and connect the group a little bit more.

"When you are playing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, you don't get those opportunities as much, and when you are churning out game after game, sometimes you are compounding certain errors, so we just need to get back on the grass and connect the group again and we will do that this week."

Whilst the FA Cup brings a fresh focus this weekend, Brady wants no let up from his players.

The Cobblers have had a miserable time of it in the various cup competitions this season. They were dumped out of the Carabao Cup by Wycombe at the first time of asking and then lost all three EFL Trophy matches.

Brady added: "It's an opportunity now to focus on a different competition and I feel that will be really important for us because we obviously want to progress.

"For us, we will approach Saturday full on and wanting to get a positive result and get through to the next round.”