Brady 'very surprised' by Newport's approach after Rowberry's pre-match comments about Cobblers

Jon Brady said he was 'very surprised' by the approach Newport County took to Tuesday's game at Sixfields following comments made by Exiles boss James Rowberry ahead of the fixture.

Speaking after his side's defeat to Forest Green and before Tuesday's trip to Sixfields, Rowberry had said: “Northampton are lot more direct, but Forest Green were a lot more direct that I thought that they would be from what we had seen.

“Forest Green have a major ability to mix up their game, both being able to play on the floor and be direct, whereas Northampton are predominantly direct in what they do. We will be ready for that.”

Newport have developed a free-flowing, fluid style of football since Rowberry took over from Michael Flynn earlier in the season, but there was little sign of that during Tuesday's evenly-contested affair at Sixfields.

The visitors started and ended the first-half on top but their best chances came from long throws until Dom Telford was denied one-on-one by Liam Roberts shortly after half-time, with Fraser Horsfall then winning it late on for Northampton.

There was an edge to the game throughout, both on the pitch and in the technical area. Brady was booked at one point and then clashed with Rowberry after the full-time whistle.

"I've watched them a lot over the last few days and with their shape they play really expansive football and really open football," said Brady.

"The manager made some comments on us before the game with how we try and play and I was a bit surprised that they came here and tried to put it in behind us early on - they changed their approach.

"I was very surprised about that. I have watched their last five or six games over and over and they can really cut you open with the way they play.

"I felt they would be a very dangerous side. They have (Courtney) Baker-Richardson on eight goals and Dom Telford with 20 so that's 28 goals between your front-line.

"We should have defended better when Dom got in for that one-on-one chance, we should have come up quicker and dealt with it, but Robbo (Liam Roberts) came to the fore and that was excellent goalkeeping.

"We closed them out really well."

When asked about his clash with Rowberry, Brady only praised Newport's boss, saying: "He has done really well since taking over earlier in the season."