Calderwood admits 'nervous' Cobblers deserved to lose against Burton
Colin Calderwood praised his team’s effort but had no complaints with the scoreline after his first game as interim manager ended in defeat to Burton Albion on Saturday.
Cobblers, playing their first game since Kevin Nolan’s sacking, appear increasingly destined for a return to League Two after goals from Kyran Lofthouse and Jake Beesley left them six points adrift of safety at the bottom of League One.
"I thought we were a bit frantic and a bit nervous,” said Calderwood. “We needed to be slightly more aggressive in the second half but the lads are obviously lacking a little bit of self-belief and confidence and going behind doesn’t help that.
“They have absolutely tried their hearts out and they’ve given everything. They ran themselves into the ground as much as anyone would expect but Burton deserved to win the game, let’s be fair.
"They played very well in the second half in terms of how they controlled it and their game management – ‘professional cheating’ as we call it. They used their experience really well to work the clock and they played in good areas.
"We need more variation and we need the lads to show some of their qualities we know they have. We huffed and puffed a little bit but we never really got momentum to win a couple of corners and create a half chance or two and our goal threat petered away in the second half.”