Roberts disappointed not to keep out Hawkins' winner in defeat to Mansfield

Cobblers goalkeeper Liam Roberts felt he did not live up to his own high standards when failing to keep out Oliver Hawkins' first-half header against Mansfield Town on Saturday.

The giant striker-turned-defender rose highest to meet Matty Longstaff's 21st-minute corner and head towards goal, with the ball squeezing into the net via a combination of Roberts' hand and the crossbar.

"We will look back at their goal," said Roberts. "I made a save onto the bar but the ball has hit my hand on the way back and gone into the net so that's frustrating.

"On another day, that stays out and I do my job properly. We will have a look at it as a team, analyse it and take it from there."

Hawkins' goal turned out to be the winner but only thanks to Roberts' heroics later in the game as he brilliantly denied Longstaff, Rhys Oates and Lucas Akins. The save from Longstaff was particularly impressive.

"I'd say it was probably one of my best saves of the season but that's not really my concern at the moment because we have lost the game," Roberts added.

"It's my job at the end of the day - to keep the ball out of the net. Now we have six games to go and they are six cup finals. They are all massive games. The next one is on Saturday so we will rest up, recover and go again."

As with his manager, Roberts was staying positive despite Cobblers dropping out of the automatic promotion places.

"There's a lot self-belief within the group and I think the philosophy between us is that we will take each game as it comes," he added.

"We can't come in after a game and think 'what have other teams done? What are the other results?' because we need to concentrate on ourselves and what we do.

"We will dust ourselves off and go again for the next game."