Brady repeats 'unbelievable' ref frustration and says nine Cobblers players were 'really off their game' against Bristol Rovers

Nine of Cobblers' starting XI against Bristol Rovers on Saturday were 'really off their game', according to manager Jon Brady.

Town's performance at the Memorial Stadium was completely out of keeping with their recent form, both in and out of possession.

Despite being gifted the lead thanks to a first-half penalty, Cobblers went down to defeat as Josh Grant and Antony Evans struck twice in six minutes.

"I felt we lost our rhythm within the game," said Brady. "We weren't as sharp as we have been on the ball, our decision-making wasn't crisp enough and we didn't play the way we can play.

"We didn't move the ball anywhere near quickly enough like we usually do. We were too slow on it and we dwelt on it and we know we can be much, much better than that.

"I thought nine out of our 11 players were really off their game, but saying all of that, we still went 1-0 up and then we nearly nicked a point in the last minute.

"So even with us not being great, at a tough place to go against a team in a good moment, we were still in the game.

"But our ball retention and so many other things on the day weren't up to standard. They were aggressive in the way they hunted down the ball and won first and second balls and that's something I felt we lacked.

"We were at fault for creating our own mistakes. It wasn't through great pressure from them, we caused our own problems.

"It's just the way we were and sometimes you get these ups and downs in football."

Town's quest to get back into the game was not helped by an incredibly fractious, bitty final 20 or so minutes when play was constantly broken up.

Brady added: "We looked at the GPS after the game and the distances travelled were about a quarter less than normal due to the amount of stoppages and you could see those stoppages for yourself - it was unbelievable how many there were.

"They killed the game and you could see what beating us meant to them at the end. We've put ourselves in a position where we're now a big scalp, but when we're in those positions and you're at the top, you have to play like a top team and we didn't do that."