Unhappy Boothroyd says Dons were given too much respect

Town were beaten 2-1 by their league one opponents at Sixfields, with Roy O’Donovan registering his first goal of the campaign in a game in which Matt Duke made a string of saves before a late rally by the home side.

Substitutes Ivan Toney and David Moyo both had opportunities to level the tie and take it to extra time but it was the Dons that prevailed and go through to round two.

Boothroyd was furious with the way his side played, particularly in the first half, and said he would have them ‘heading heads’ in training this week to improve their physicality.

“We showed them far too much respect at times,” he said. “We had a lot of chances against us because we didn’t defend properly and Matt Duke kept us in the game with some key saves in key periods.

“We should have done a lot better than we did in the first half and because of how we played in that period we didn’t get the result we wanted.

“It is very important that the players learn to put their bodies on the line. We’ve got a captain at the moment (Kelvin Langmead) who has got lines all over his forehead from where he’s thrown himself at things and that’s why he’s our captain.

“I can guarantee we’ll be throwing ourselves at things a lot more because that’s a mininum requirement.

“The club pays for the boys’ faces and to throw themselves on the line. Some of the stuff tonight was kidding people on.”