Jon Brady picks up point at Stadium of Light in first game as permanent Northampton Town manager

Northampton Town travelled to Wearside having been relegated last weekend, but the club made the decision to appoint caretaker manager Jon Brady as permanent manager heading into the game, and his side finished the campaign with a positive result at the Stadium of Light.

Brady had been in caretaker charge at Northampton since mid-February following the departure of Keith Curle but has now been given the job on a permanent basis despite picking up just 20 points from 19 matches heading into the weekend.

Northamptonshire has been a county Brady has spent a lot of time during his career, he had a playing spell of almost 200 games at Rushden & Diamonds, before having spells at Kettering Town and Brackley Town. He also managed Brackley between 2009-2015 before joining Cobblers as a youth coach in 2016.

His connection to the area, and to the club, is deeper than you will find from most managers of clubs, and his years spent working with young players at Northampton should help to provide a platform for the youngsters who caught his eye in that time.

Brady has a big job on his hands to turn Northampton around next season, but in Bolton Wanderers this season, and Plymouth Argyle the season before, there are recent examples of clubs managing to bounce back to League One at the first attempt.

While Northampton are likely to have a smaller budget than both of the clubs mentioned, a result at the Stadium of Light in their final game of the season would have been a statement of intent from Northampton.

Out-of-contract defender Lloyd Jones was given the captain’s armband by Brady in what was likely an attempt to keep the former Liverpool defender at Sixfields going into next year.

Jones lined up in defence with Fraser Horsfall, Michael Harriman and Sam Hoskins, who was filling in out of position at right back. Ex-Newcastle United goalkeeper Jonathan Mitchell was between the sticks for Cobblers.

In midfield Shaun McWilliams, Bryn Morris and Ryan Watson, joined at times by wingers Mark Marshall and Mikel Miller as Northampton switched between a three and five man midfield, with Danny Rose playing as a lone front man.

Sunderland meanwhile had Lee Burge between the sticks, a defence of Conor McLaughlin, Bailey Wright, Luke O’Nien and Denver Hume. Max Power and Josh Scowen started in holding midfield, with Jordan Jones and Jack Diamond either side of Lynden Gooch, who was just behind Charlie Wyke.

It was a strong line up named by Lee Johnson considering his side had already confirmed their spot in the play-offs.

The game was played in glorious conditions at the Stadium of Light, the sun beaming down on a hot Wearside afternoon, in stark contrast to the rest of the week, which has seen a lot of rain.

The game followed a similar pattern to the week’s weather. For 80 minutes it was a drab affair, there has been a few half chances for Sunderland, while Northampton had created very little at all, but neither side had come particularly close to opening the scoring in what looked a game destined to finish 0-0.

The final 10 minutes was a totally different story, the game burst into life. Northampton substitute Caleb Chukwuemeka can be credited with the turnaround, given it was his breakaway that led to a freekick just outside the Sunderland box.

It was from that freekick that Northampton recorded their first effort on target during the game, a Hoskins strike which took a wicked deflection which saw it fly past Burge to put the relegated side ahead with just six minutes to play.

Sunderland had already stepped it up a gear in the closing stages, which is where the opportunity for that initial breakaway came from. But after the goal there was even more desire from the Black Cats to get something out of the game.

Within three minutes it was 1-1. Jordan Jones saw a cross hit the post, before going across the face of goal and hitting the other post, before falling kindly for Carl Winchester to score.

Neither side had really done enough to say they deserved to win the tie, despite Sunderland having largely controlled the ball.

Despite never really looking that threatening Northampton had done well to prevent Sunderland from creating many clear cut chances.

They had defended well, for large spells of the game, been compact, and difficult to break down. There were reasons for optimism based off their defensive display, but the questions now will be about how many of this side stay at Sixfields for next season.

Lloyd Jones and Ryan Watson will be two who Brady is likely to want to keep, yet they are likely to have interest from elsewhere and may well move on.

While Northampton’s focus is now on who they’re going to keep, and how they will rebuild their squad for next season, Sunderland will be preparing for the play-offs.

Johnson’s side finished fourth, meaning they will be away in the first leg at Lincoln City, who finished fifth. If the Black Cats can overcome Lincoln over two legs they will go on to face either Blackpool or Oxford United at Wembley.

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