Brady: A point 'gained' for Cobblers at Mansfield Town  – and it was the least we deserved

Jon Brady described Boxing Day’s 1-1 draw at Mansfield Town as a ‘point gained’ for the Cobblers, even if he was a touch disappointed not to come away with all three after his side dominated most of the contest.

Cobblers made all of the running for an hour at Field Mill and really should have gone ahead but Ben Fox missed their best chance and it was only a matter of time until Mansfield grabbed a foothold and threatened a winner themselves.

Nonetheless, Will Swan’s opener from a corner came out of the blue, but with 84 minutes on the clock, it looked to be the winner. Sam Hoskins had other ideas though as his wonderful volley just four minutes later salvaged a valuable away point.

“We certainly didn’t deserve to lose the game,” said Brady. “It was great character to come back so quickly after their goal but I felt we dominated a lot of areas of the game.

"They changed their shape in the second-half and the momentum swung and then it became quite an even game, but we had a lot of entries into their penalty areas and created some good chances and they had to make some important blocks.

"The one disappointing thing was in the first-half where the ref gives us a free-kick but if he plays advantage, Shaun (McWIlliams) has a free shot in the penalty box. That was so frustrating. I said to the ref at half-time that I felt he was having a good game but just let the play go for a split-second.

"It was disappointing but in the end I think it’s a good point and a point gained. It was almost Paolo Di-Canio-esque from Sam to get us a point at the end because it’s a wonderful finish. The goalkeeper had no chance.”