Brady explains why he changed formation and left Leonard on the bench against Stevenage

Cobblers manager Jon Brady has explained his reasoning behind the tactical and personnel decisions he made both before and during Saturday’s thrilling 3-2 victory over Stevenage.

The Town boss made some bold calls for the top-of-the-table clash against the League Two leaders in Hertfordshire but he was fully vindicated by the way in which his side started and finished the game as they ended Boro’s 13-game home winning run.

Brady opted to start with three in defence for the first time this season, handing Akin Odimayo his full league debut and shifting Harvey Lintott and Ali Koiki to wing-back. Marc Leonard was surprisingly dropped to the bench as Shaun McWilliams partnered Jack Sowerby in midfield.

Those decisions paid off with a dominant opening half-hour in which Louis Appéré gave Cobblers the lead and Mitch Pinnock and Sam Sherring missed chances to extend it. Lintott also had a strong penalty shout turned down.

"Unusually, I was quite calm today,” said Brady. “I believed in what we set out to do and you could see from the first 20, 25 minutes that we really had them on the back foot and we created chance after chance.

"Their goalkeeper made one hell of a save from Sam Sherring and we could have had another penalty in the first-half as well but you don't normally get two penalties away from home. It was a good performance all-round.”

On why he changed the formation and left out Leonard, Brady explained: "That was just the way I felt we needed to go tactically for this game. I thought Marc would be able to come on and control the game for us.

"I don't have a crystal ball but what I do is plan ahead how we are going to play and I spoke to Marc before the game and explained to him 'this is what I see, don't be disappointed' and he took it on the chin. He was very professional and then he came on in the second-half and added so much to us on the ball.”

With Ali Koiki and Sam Sherring forced off through injury, Brady could have gone back to a four-man defence or brought on Ryan Haynes and Aaron McGowan, both of whom are more natural wing-backs. Instead, though, he shifted Mitch Pinnock and Shaun McWilliams to wing-back and the two combined brilliantly with Danny Hylton for a late winner.

Brady continued: "Hylts did magnificently to hold the ball up and Mitch made a great run from one end to the other and then clipped it up to the back stick and Shaun's belief to get there was fantastic.

"I can't remember the last time he's played wing-back but those were the adjustments we had to make. He has taken a chance to get into the box and he's full of belief and it's brilliant for him.”

Cobblers also finished with two 19-year-olds – Lintott and Max Dyche – in central defence. Brady added: "We had two teenagers next to Jon Guthrie. Harvey Lintott hasn't really played centre-half before so fair play to him, what a lad, what a find.

"He's a boy who was released by Gillingham and he's now played every game bar one for us. It's just incredible, and then Dychey did really well when he came on and Jon led them both."