Opposition view: Clough tears into 'disgraceful' Mansfield after defeat at Sixfields

Rhys Oates lashed the Stags ahead after 19 minutes and they were good value for their lead at half-time, but they somewhat fell to pieces once Jack Perkins brought Cobblers level with a fine finish of his own eight minutes into the second half.

The home side dominated most of the final half-hour and came away with an ultimately deserved victory thanks to Tom Eaves’ coolly-taken penalty, won by Ethan Wheatley’s quick feet.

"There’s no way we should have lost that game,” lamented Clough. “It’s a measure of where we are and maybe some players got a bit carried away. To not see that game out, or at least get a point from it, is extremely disturbing to be honest.

"We scored a magnificent goal but to then not create or score another one with some of the situations we found ourselves in was incredibly poor. The two goals we conceded were also both poor.

"There was a lack of thought and care. We talked about the game all week and did our preparations but we did different things to what we talked about, even straight from kick-off, I thought the first few minutes of the game were disgraceful.

"You’ve got a team that’s going to come at you and you get caught twice and give a corner away in the first 30 seconds. We stressed all week about not giving corners away and we give one away after 30 seconds and that set the tone for the game. Whether it’s casualness or complacency, it was just incredibly poor play.

"Some of the decisions were incredibly poor and I think it’s a bit of a reality check for us. We’re now going to have a pretty rubbish 14 days before we next play.”