Defensive effort pleases Cobblers boss Page who says attacking players will be signed

GOAL GLEE - Alex Revell takes the congratulations from his Cobblers team-mates after his late equaliser (Picture: Kirsty Edmonds)

Northampton defended manfully against Championship opposition in their fourth pre-season friendly - and first at Sixfields - as QPR bossed possession and created the better chances.

Only some last-ditch tackling from centre-backs Gabriel Zakuani and Zander Diamond coupled with several fine Adam Smith saves kept the Cobblers level before Nasser El-Kyayatai’s 81st minute opener was cancelled out by Alex Revell five minutes later.

“I thought it was a great test for us against very good opposition,” said Page afterwards.

“We showed a different side to us that we haven’t seen all pre-season, and I was really pleased with the effort and commitment they showed.

“They had to give a very hard-working, discipline performance against a good team, but we switched off for the goal and that was disappointing on our part.

“To finish on a high and get the equaliser in the manner we did with Revs scoring a top-class goal made it a pleasing day’s work”

Whilst he was happy with his side’s defensive work, Page was as equally keen to point out their shortcomings from an attacking viewpoint and make it known that he’s aware more is needed, with more signings on the way.

“I think that’s an area we know we have to address,” he replied when asked about Northampton’s lack of attacking spark.

“We know how we want to play but it’s been difficult with six injuries.

“We’ve been limited in the previous two or three games in playing the way which we wanted to play because it’s been horses for courses and we’ve had to get on with it.

“We want to bring in the right players and there will be more players coming, but they’ve got to be right.

“We could bring in three players tomorrow if we want to, but that’s not the answer because we don’t want to rush into it and add numbers for the sake of it.

“We want to bring quality in and it’s evident that we need a little bit of support up top, but we knew we had to be disciplined and patient in our play.

“Defensively I think we’ve got the foundations that now we have to build on.”