Northampton Town head coach Jon Brady has received huge praise from Blackpool boss Neil Critchley ahead of tonight’s fixture at Sixfields.
The Cobblers have had an excellent season so far. Since being promoted to League One in the previous campaign, the club secured the signing of Marc Leonard on a season-long loan once more, while also bringing in Kieron Bowie, Patrick Brough and Tyreece Simpson on loan.
Staying in the division will have been the aim for Brady prior to the season commencing and yet, heading into the final nine matches of the 2023/24 campaign, Northampton Town are closer to the playoffs than to the relegation zone.
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The Northamptonshire outfit have been a thorn in the side of many promotion-chasing teams this term, taking points from the likes of Lincoln City, Bolton Wanderers, Oxford United and Peterborough United.
Brady’s men also managed to earn a victory away from home at Bloomfield Road against Blackpool back in November. Goals from Bowie and top scorer Sam Hoskins cancelled out an equaliser from Jordan Rhodes to hand Northampton all three points.
Seasiders head coach Neil Critchley will be hopeful that his team can continue their push for the playoff places by getting revenge on the hosts tonight, but understands that this will not be an easy game for his players [quotes via The Northampton Chronicle]:
“Any game away from home in this league is tough.
“We can draw confidence from our recent games and we’ve been to Peterborough and won and went to Shrewsbury and kept a clean sheet, but we know Northampton is a difficult game.
“Jon Brady has done a fantastic job there, they’ve been brilliant where they are and what they have achieved this season and they’re difficult to play against,” he continued.
“We know from our home game the threats they can pose to us and you know you have to do certain basics in this game to put your best foot forward. They’re very dangerous on the break and they’ve got good players at the top end of the pitch.”
Writer’s View
Critchley is right. Northampton Town are a team that nobody wants to face, especially this late in the campaign. Brady’s side dig and don’t stop fighting, even when they go a goal behind, hence why they’ve won so many points from losing points already.
Furthermore, Blackpool rank inside the bottom half of the table in League One for away form so it’s really difficult to call this match. Nevertheless, the Seasiders need to win as failing to collect three points could be incredibly damaging to their playoff hopes.
