'An insult to us' - Calderwood responds to questions over perceived lack of effort in Cardiff defeat

Cobblers found themselves 2-0 down in no time at all at the Cardiff City Stadium as the home side twice sliced through Town’s wonky defence for Joel Colwill and Ollie Tanner to net. A dreadful error by Jack Vale then presented Callum Robinson with another before half-time.

Cobblers fans both in the stands and on social media expressed anger over a perceived lack of effort from the players, particularly in the first half, leading to boos when the half-time whistle was blown.

Asked if he was satisfied that his players gave him 100 per cent, Calderwood replied: “Yes, they did to a degree. But it’s not life or death and we didn’t make enough contacts or collisions and we didn’t put them on the floor enough. They wafted by us on too many occasions, either by skill or power, and I think that’s an insult to us and it’s an area that clearly has to be improved.

"The attitude to their careers and attitude to their training during the week trends in the right direction but today we were just washed away by a superior club and a superior team that were playing football at a superior level.

"It shows the level and that level is nowhere near the top. That’s just a good League One team who have achieved promotion, that’s all it is, and it shouldn’t be too far away from us but on today’s evidence, it looked a mile away.”

Cobblers competed better in the second half and scored through Jake Evans but Calderwood took no pleasure from that, adding: "I think Cardiff probably went down a gear. There can't be any joy taken from today, apart from the quality of the goal.

"It was a good press, we win it back and it's a great strike by Jake. The boy’s got talent and it was always the idea to bring him on and get him into a moment where there might be a bit more space, we were just hoping the game to be a bit closer at the time.”