Northampton’s resilience impresses boss Jon Brady

Jon Brady was happy with the resilience of his Northampton team after they won 1-0 at Colchester to boost their promotion hopes.

The Cobblers bagged a 42nd-minute winner through Louis Appere, who swept home a loose ball from close range after Colchester had failed to clear Marc Leonard’s corner in the area.

It sealed Northampton’s first win in five matches and leaves them two points outside the Sky Bet League Two automatic promotion places.

Cobblers boss Brady said: “It was a good win. I feel the players really put themselves on the line today.

“They worked extremely hard and I feel they have done, over the period of time.

“We had a lot of chances in the second half where they’ve cleared two or three off the line and it would have been nice to put it to bed at 2-0.

“But it was a tough game; you can see that they’ve recruited well and really improved and you can see the strength in depth coming off their bench as well.

“In this league, it seems quite a battle at the moment with the pitches the way they are and there’s little passages of good play.

“We had more chances than they did and they’ve defended it brilliantly well.

“They had two main chances but we stood strong and I’m really pleased with the players and their resilience today.”

Colchester, playing their first game following Matt Bloomfield’s departure as boss, had their chances.

Northampton goalkeeper Tom King denied Kwesi Appiah, while Tom Hopper headed a great opportunity over in stoppage-time.

But the Cobblers came close to doubling their lead in the second half, with Colchester goalkeeper Kieran O’Hara twice denying Appere and also making a good save from Jack Sowerby, deep into stoppage-time.

Colchester interim boss Ross Embleton said: “I wouldn’t say we deserved to win it but I don’t think we deserved to lose it – that was my message to the players. I’m disappointed for the boys.

“It was a disappointing, untidy goal to concede – it dropped in our box and we’ve got to be a bit more aggressive to go and defend it.

“If we do, I think a draw would probably have been a fair scenario.

“It was the defining moment; they’ve attacked it and we haven’t defended it quite well enough.

“It was a very average first half. We made a few changes in the second half to personnel and shape and I thought they really applied themselves properly.

“It’s a difficult scenario for them to have been in and there’s never enough time in football to feel sorry for yourself.

“But I’m pleased with the way they’ve adapted and gone about things, over the last few days.”