Jon Brady says Northampton ‘won’t get too high’ after win boosts promotion bid

Northampton boss Jon Brady is keeping a level head after his side hauled themselves back into contention for automatic promotion with a 3-0 victory over Harrogate on Easter Monday.

The Cobblers had looked to be falling away from the top three after a patchy run of form in February and March but successive wins over Easter have put them back in the picture, two points behind third-placed Port Vale.

Sam Hoskins scored either side of a goal for Louis Appere as they eased past Harrogate and cut the gap to third-placed Port Vale to just two points.

“Six points was our goal going into the weekend so to come away with six points is really pleasing,” said Brady.

“It was nice to be in the position we were after an hour but you can never think it’s done and the important thing for us was to keep a clean sheet and make sure the attitude was right all the way until the end.

“There were one or two moments but I don’t want to focus on that because overall I thought we were good value for the win.

“We don’t want to get too high about it because there’s still a lot of work to do.”

Northampton now have 21 clean sheets for the season, second only to Rotherham in the top four tiers of English football.

Brady added: “People give a lot of credit to the defence and the goalkeeper, and rightly so, but it’s also all over the pitch with the way we press and how we defend from the front and work all over.

“It’s a whole team effort in my opinion and it’s obviously really pleasing to have so many clean sheets.”

Harrogate’s EFL status was confirmed despite the defeat at Sixfields.

“It’s another defeat which is self-inflicted,” lamented manager Simon Weaver.

“We were right in the game but it’s just moments that have cost us and that has been a massive lesson for us at this level during the season.

“We are in contention within games but the opposition, especially teams in the top half, only need to wait for us to make a mistake and we are making those mistakes and providing teams with opportunities to score.

“We passed the ball well at times and we looked a decent outfit between both boxes and I think a neutral would have seen that we had a game plan and what we were trying to achieve.

“We have an incredible amount of injuries at the moment but we didn’t do ourselves justice. Northampton did not need to be outstanding by any stretch so we have to get better.

“League status has been confirmed, which is great for the club, but the next stage this summer is huge for us in terms of recruitment.”