Brady admits 'sloppy' Cobblers were 'outfought' during Fleetwood Town defeat

Cobblers boss Jon Brady felt his players were ‘sloppy’ and ‘outfought’ after losing 2-0 to Fleetwood Town in timid fashion on Saturday.

Northampton were second best from the very first whistle on the Fylde Coast and could have been 4-0 down inside the opening 35 minutes. It was only two, scored by Promise Omochere and Bosun Lawal, but not once did the visitors threaten to get back into the game.

"It’s a disappointing afternoon in what has been a good season overall,” said Brady. “We’ve tried to motivate and work hard to make sure the season doesn’t just fall away but we have to make sure today is a blip.

"The conditions were bad but Fleetwood came out all guns blazing and we just couldn’t seem to get out. They kept winning every second ball and they out-fought us in that first 20, 25 minutes to be honest.

"They put us on the back foot and the two goals were poor to concede and it was all through our own doing. I felt we were sloppy in a few moments but credit to Fleetwood, they swarmed us and made it so difficult to get out and scored the two goals and it’s always an uphill battle from there.

"You have to play to the conditions but I don’t think we did and we didn’t win first contacts and second balls and they won the battle in the first 20 minutes and that’s what determines the game.”