Northampton boss Jon Brady wants his side to take on the challenge heading into a demanding week.

The Cobblers will be hoping for a positive result against the Whites before heading to Wrexham at the weekend.

Brady’s side have taken eight points from their opening seven matches in the league, including victories against Exeter and Huddersfield. However, they were beaten by Mansfield on Saturday.

The manager felt there were positives to take against the Stags and wants to keep heading in the right direction as the squad gels.

“It is the league, two really tough games ahead of us but we have got to face the first challenge,” he told the club channels.

“We are improving, our squad has come in very late and players are still getting up to speed.

“Tyler (Roberts) and you see him looking sharper, the same as Tariqe (Fosu) and building their minutes.

“One or two others, Samy Chouchane had a good 90 minutes but we have to see if those guys can do two games in a week.

“There are some big positives there but the result was not what we wanted, it feels a bit like we were sucker punched.”

Fosu saw a penalty saved by Christy Pym, with Mitch Pinnock and Cameron McGeehan also having big chances.

“The performance was there and on the ball, it was probably our best performance of the season so far,” Brady added.

“We created some great chances and could have easily been two or three up. Missing the penalty was obviously a big moment and then we concede early in the second half and are chasing the game.

“We opened up more and more because we are not going to sit back, and that gave them some chances as well. But we wanted to get back into the game and we created some more great chances.

“We are getting into the right areas and I think it was the most fluid we have been.”

Northampton signed free agent Nesta Guinness-Walker on a short-term deal last Friday but the full-back did not feature against Mansfield.

When asked if he will be involved against Bolton, Brady replied: “We will see who needs a rest and who can play on Tuesday, and we will manage the squad.

“Now, we have a squad to manage which is really good, it is helpful. If people are in the red zone, others can come in which is really important.”