Brady unhappy with three key refereeing decisions during Cobblers' defeat to Mansfield Town

Cobblers boss Jon Brady hit out at three key refereeing decisions after his side's damaging 1-0 defeat to fellow promotion hopefuls Mansfield Town on Saturday.

Mansfield claimed three huge points courtesy of a 21st-minute header from Oliver Hawkins as Town dropped out of the automatic promotion spots, replaced by Port Vale.

But Brady expressed frustration that Hawkins' goal was allowed to stand following an apparent foul on Fraser Horsfall, while he also felt Cobblers should have had a late penalty.

"It was a game that ebbed and flowed and it was end-to-end at times," said Brady.

"I think the referee got some of the big calls wrong. The corner from which they score, Fraser gets rugby tackled by (Lucas) Akins and it should be a foul for us. I'm still scratching his head as to why he is allowed to bring Fraser to the ground like that.

"It's obviously a tough place to come but we had some good chances ourselves, Jack Sowerby went close and Mitch (Pinnock) hit the bar, and they also had chances and Liam made some good saves.

"Fraser is then manhandled at the end in their box and I feel that should have been a penalty. It's disappointing because it's another difficult decision to take and helps them get the result. Hawkins grabbed him with two hands on the shirt, it's blatant for everyone to see."

Town's cause was not helped when Paul Lewis saw red for two bookable offences in a matter of seconds with 15 minutes to play.

Brady added: "Pablo makes a tackle and the ref gives him a booking for that but as he goes to get up, (George) Lapslie pulls Pablo down and it's just the usual coming together.

"Pablo just pushes him away but the lad milks it, throws himself to the floor and the referee buys it and gives a red card. It's soft."