Opposition view: Harris has no complaints and praises Cobblers after cup upset

Cardiff City manager Neil Harris admitted he could have 'no complaints' over his side's Carabao Cup defeat on Saturday, conceding that the Cobblers were full value for their 3-0 victory.

The Bluebirds, who have hopes of returning to the Premier League this season, came to the PTS as heavy favourites of progressing into the second round of the EFL Cup.

But they had another thing coming with Harry Smith's first-half penalty setting Cobblers on their way to a mighty fine victory. Two neat finishes by Matty Warburton and Ryan Watson in the second-half then ensured Town's safe passage in round two.

"Angry might be a little bit harsh but I'm hugely frustrated and disappointed with the players," admitted Harris

"I think for the first 25 minutes we showed we had better quality but they're a strong side and after we conceded the penalty, one team played it as a pre-season friendly and the other played it like a cup tie.

"Huge credit to Northampton on their performance and their willingness to fight and to compete and do the dirty stuff and they were better than us so I have no complaints over the result."

Harris had nine players missing through injury and unavailability but he says that was no excuse for their below-par showing.

"I'm disappointed with the players because it was a poor performance and not what I expected," he added.

"There's enough experience and enough quality in the team to get through the tie but we got sucker-punched by a team that wanted it more than us and did the dirty side of the game better than us.

"They won more first contacts and more second balls and that's not the traits of Cardiff City and certainly not of a team managed by me.

"We gave poor goals away and we missed four or five clear-cut chances ourselves but they scored their opportunities. Did we do enough to stop those chances? No, definitely not.

"We've had a good pre-season until now but it was clear today that there were some players didn't suit the physicality of the game and I learnt a lot about some of them - the majority of which isn't very good."