Opposition view: Cowley rues 'really poor start' against Cobblers
Colchester United boss Danny Cowley rued ‘a really poor start to both halves’ and questioned his side’s physical capabilities after Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Sixfields.
Matty Warhurst headed Cobblers ahead on nine minutes before Colchester passed up two good chances to level, and they were punished when Sam Hoskins converted Owen Dale’s low cross.
The U’s, who have now dropped below Northampton in the table, remain without a win in any competition since August.
"It was a tough day for us,” said Cowley. “We made a really poor start. We didn't get out of the blocks, we didn't make tackles and we didn't compete.
"We conceded a really soft first goal. It’s a silly free-kick and we got too deep. Northampton's number nine is a good player but a young boy and he got between our two big aerial defenders and scored at the near post.
"It’s a poor start, then a good response, but it's a really bad strategy to wait until you get punched on the nose before you respond. We did put a good period together and Ben Perry has a good chance and then Bradley (Ihionvien) has to score his header.
"It was a tight first half, I didn’t think there was much between the teams, and then we tweaked a few bits, but we come out in the second half and concede almost straight away again.
"As a manager for 20 years, when you go down 2-0 away from home, I could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times the team comes back and gets a positive result.
"It was a really poor start to both halves. We are going to have tough days. We have a lot of injuries at the moment and it’s easy to feel sorry for yourselves when the second goal goes in.
“You have to be physically ready to play three games in a week and I don’t think we were, which is frustrating and a concern. It’s tough at the moment.”
Colchester had a lot of the ball - 65 per cent - but struggled to play their way through Northampton’s press.
Cowley added: “We didn’t play with enough confidence or belief. They were 3-4-2-1 and pressing with a two and a one and I felt there were opportunities to get into the middle and really hurt their midfield two.
“We didn’t execute well enough. Once you go 2-0 down, you push more players forward and they had some chances on the turnovers, but at 0-0 and 1-0, there’s not much in the game.”