Boss Page believes key decisions went against Cobblers in Bradford defeat

Cobblers boss Rob Page was left to rue two narrow offside decisions that he felt cost his side dear in Tuesday's 1-0 defeat to Bradford City.
Cobblers boss Rob Page was again left a frustrated man as his team lost at Bradford City (Picture: Kirsty Edmonds)Cobblers boss Rob Page was again left a frustrated man as his team lost at Bradford City (Picture: Kirsty Edmonds)
Cobblers boss Rob Page was again left a frustrated man as his team lost at Bradford City (Picture: Kirsty Edmonds)

After a goalless first-half, James Hanson headed Bradford ahead on 55 minutes before John-Joe O’Toole’s late equaliser was ruled out for offside.

Page was unhappy with the decision to allow Hanson’s goal to stand, claiming Mark Marshall was offside in the build-up, and also felt O’Toole may have been onside.

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He said: “I’ve just looked at the goals again and you talk about fine margins - for John-Joe’s header that was disallowed it’s exactly the same scenario as their goal when the first ball comes in and Marshall is standing two yards offside and there’s no flag given.

“There’s no daylight between John-Joe and the defender and he’s given offside, so it’s fine margins and another frustrating evening.”

Despite conveying understandable disappointment afterwards, Page was far from discouraged with his side’s performance as they suffered a third straight league defeat.

He added: “We’ve created enough chances again. We had a couple of chances in the first-half and we’ve done the same in the second-half.

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“It’s not an easy place to come to but we’ve created chances and when those chances stop, there’ll be cause for concern.

“We had to make changes in the end. Sam Hoskins was injured and we did well to get him back out for the second-half.

“He had a back spasm and struggled to move at half-time so fair play to Sam because he went out and gave us a shift for 25 minutes or so.

“I thought the change helped us a little bit and it’s frustrating evening but we can’t feel sorry for ourselves.”

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Nevertheless, Page is aware that he and his team must react positively when Bolton Wanderers visit Sixfields on Saturday if they are to allay growing concerns with the Cobblers now down to 15th in Sky Bet League One.

He continued: “One thing I will say is that I will back those players 100 per cent because of the character and the commitment, they gave me 100 per cent tonight and we’ve got to keep doing that.

“I’ve just said to them that we can’t sorry for ourselves and dwell on it.

“Things aren’t going our way at the moment but we’ve got to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves down and go again.

“As quickly as it’s changed with the defeats we’ve had, it’ll change again for us and we’ve got to make sure that’s against Bolton on Saturday.”