'˜Hurt' Page questions character after Cobblers suffer more late woe

Like at Gillingham seven days ago, Northampton were on course for at least a point against rivals Peterborough United on Saturday only for Chris Forrester to take advantage of some hesitant Town defending and head in a dramatic stoppage-time winner.

That gave Posh the local bragging rights for the second time in a month and left Page and his players exasperated at the full-time whistle.

On the late goal, Page said: “I’m always looking at my keeper and defenders to deal with a cross when it comes into the box. They didn’t deal with it and the smallest player on the pitch has scored.

“We lost in the third minute of stoppage-time last week and in the second minute of stoppage-time today. When a cross comes in that late you have to win it, they have to take responsibility.”

Prior to Forrester’s late winner, Northampton had chances to claim all three points themselves as Alex Revell, Matty Taylor and Sam Hoskins all went close.

But their failure to convert proved costly thanks to United’s last-gasp goal, which left Page questioning some of his players.

He added: “To hit the bar late on and then lose it in stoppage-time is a bitter pill to swallow. Our decision-making was not good going forward either, we created enough chances and I can’t recall them creating any apart from the goal.

“I can influence decisions before games but you have to see the game out and I need characters on the pitch to do that. I’m not quite sure I’ve got enough of those at the moment.

“I felt we had a couple of penalty shouts in the first half. But we can’t feel sorry for ourselves, it’s the supporters I feel sorry for, we didn’t deserve to lose that game

“The players are hurting and so am I after losing a derby game.”