Hasselbaink: Refreshing Cobblers 'deserved a little bit more' from Shrewsbury draw

Cobblers boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink hailed the character of his team and felt they 'deserved a little bit more' after holding title-chasing Shrewsbury Town to a 1-1 draw on Tuesday evening.
REFRESHING: Hasselbaink was much happier with his side's efforts on Tuesday compared to Saturday's defeat against Rotherham. Picture: Kirsty EdmondsREFRESHING: Hasselbaink was much happier with his side's efforts on Tuesday compared to Saturday's defeat against Rotherham. Picture: Kirsty Edmonds
REFRESHING: Hasselbaink was much happier with his side's efforts on Tuesday compared to Saturday's defeat against Rotherham. Picture: Kirsty Edmonds

Given the respective form of the two teams, Shrewsbury were strong favourites going into the game and would have gone top of the table with a win, however they were held by a much-improved Northampton side who bounced back from Saturday's disappointing defeat to Rotherham.

Shay Facey's first goal for the club had them on course for victory until Jon Nolan's sweet second-half volley earned Shrewsbury a point and ensured Town remain in the Sky Bet League One relegation zone.

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The only other sour note of the night, other than letting the lead slip, was the red card shown to John-Joe O'Toole for an off-the-ball incident with Shrews skipper Abu Ogogo, who was also given his marching orders.

"I haven't seen it," said Hasselbaink. "I will look at the footage and then take it from there.

"It is what it is and it'll give someone else an opportunity."

On his side's performance, the Town boss added: "I think we deserved a little bit more, we deserved the three points. Their boy took the goal really well to make it 1-1 but we did a lot to take the victory.

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"It was a refreshing performance and I must also say the atmosphere was very good.

"We were poor on Saturday. Rotherham were better, sharper and used the ball better and we all have to be honest with ourselves and look each other in the eye and take some kind of responsibility.

"That's what we spoke about, but these are good lads who want the best for the club and that's why I keep encouraging them and today was a really good performance.

"If we can repeat that kind of performance over the next eight matches, I'll be very happy."

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Hasselbaink made three changes to the team for Tuesday's game and also tweaked the formation, playing 3-5-2 with Facey and Joe Bunney as wing-backs and Kevin van Veen and Boris Mathis leading the line.

He continued: "I went with 3-5-2 because I wanted to change something after Saturday and we didn't give any chances away to Shrewsbury apart from their goal.

"I wanted to be a bit more solid and I also wanted to have two strikers on the pitch to give us a focal point and, overall, we limited them to very few chances."