Opposition view: Wild claims Barrow were 'by far the better side' in the first-half against Cobblers

Barrow boss Pete Wild claimed his side were ‘far better’ than Northampton in the first-half of Saturday’s 2-0 defeat, but admitted they lost their way in the second when Ben Fox and Shaun McWilliams scored the decisive goals.

A scrappy, low-quality first-half yielded very few clear chances before Cobblers edged in front when Fox converted Sam Hoskins’ free-kick nine minutes into the second period.

McWilliams then added a late second to put the seal on three crucial points for Town in the race for promotion.

"It was a frustrating afternoon,” said Wild. “I was happy with how we played in the first-half.

"We were by far the better side in the first-half and we came in at half-time and asked for more of the same, but unfortunately it didn’t turn out that way and we didn’t hit those levels in the second-half.

"There were not many chances in the whole game, it wasn’t a classic, but unfortunately they have come away with the victory. The manner of the two goals we conceded were so avoidable and so frustrating.

"But there was nothing between the two teams and that shows how far we have come as a football club, but we have lost 2-0 and that’s highly frustrating.

"I thought we were spot on in the first-half and it went exactly how I thought it would play out. We made some tweaks at half-time and we made attacking changes because it was ambling towards a 0-0 draw, but it wasn’t our day.

"That’s football and we move on to Carlisle on Tuesday.”