Cobblers 'lost the plot' and 'lacked energy' in Mansfield capitulation

A defensive error gave Will Evans the chance to put Mansfield ahead early on at the One Call Stadium, and whilst Cobblers kept themselves in the game, a disastrous start to the second half, when Evans doubled his tally before Lucas Akins lashed in, effectively killed the game.

Calderwood said: "We looked as if we lacked a bit of overall energy as a group and we lost collisions and contacts. Mansfield produced dangerous crosses and dangerous moments, they ran hard and they had a physicality. Our moments came from individual stuff and one or two nice passing sequences.

"We conjured a good chance before half-time but their goalkeeper makes a good save. That gave us a bit of hope but we're losing a lot of goals early in the second half, going back Peterborough, and that's making it more difficult for us.

"We then lost the plot to a degree in the second half because you have to remain competitive, keep calm and just go again, but it became too open and Mansfield ran well and produced good moments in our third. But that's normal and I would expect us to feel and look better than we did."

Collectively, Cobblers ran their highest distance of the season in the defeat at Stockport on Tuesday and Calderwood felt that might have had a knock-on effect against Mansfield.

He added: "We ran our biggest distance on Tuesday night and whether that's had an impact on today, I don't know. We'll have to see what the data tells us but they have shown they have capacity to do it. But do they have the capacity to do it again four days later? First impression, you'd say probably not.”