Boss Page hails '˜exceptional' Cobblers after they down Dons for maiden win

STUNNING STRIKE - Alex Revell and his team-mates congratulate Matt Taylor after his stunning free-kick fired the Cobblers into a 3-0 lead versus Milton Keynes Dons (Picture: Sharon Lucey)

Short on goals so far this season, Northampton rectified that within 30 minutes of kick-off on Sunday when they stunned Dons by racing into a 3-0 lead through three fine finishes applied by Harry Beatyman, Alex Revell and Matty Taylor.

Dons responded through Dean Bowditch shortly before half-time but despite dominating possession and territory, they couldn’t find another until the fifth minute of injury time.

By that stage Cobblers had done enough to notch a first win under Page and their first three points of the season.

“It was our first league win and I thought we thoroughly deserved the three points today,” said Page afterwards.

“What pleases me most was that performance was there for everyone to see and thankfully it was on the TV as well.

“We played to our strengths. Defensively today we’ve done what we have done all season but the area we needed to improve on was chances created and then when we do create the chances, be more clinical.

“I thought we did that today and I thought we were exceptional.

“To score three, to miss a penalty and still create other chances shows that when we get both sides of it together, we’ll do OK.”

After such a fast start, there were some nervy moments for Page and his team who seemed to tire and at times invited too much pressure onto their goal, however in the end it was a deserved victory and the margin could have been even more one-sided had David Martin not saved Taylor’s spot-kick shortly after the restart.

Page added: “I think we can still keep the ball better because we gave possession away too cheaply at times and it was quite frustrating but credit to the lads – we knew they were going to throw everything at us.

“We knew the first 15 or 20 minutes of the second-half were important just to weather that storm.

“They’re a good outfit and a good team and they will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season but defensively again we were excellent and we sorted out the attacking side of it so it was a deserved victory.”