Swindon boss Wellens praises 'excellent' and 'powerful' Cobblers after play-off final victory

Swindon Town boss Richie Wellens was full of praise for the 'powerful' and 'committed' nature of Northampton's play-off final performance against Exeter City.

Wellens led Swindon to the League Two title this season, and his side will be joined in League One next year by the Cobblers following their 4-0 thrashing of Exeter at Wembley.

"It was fully deserved," said Wellens. "It was an excellent performance, powerful and committed. They put the ball into the right areas and it's just what you expect from a Northampton team.

"I think the last time I saw such a one-sided play-off final was when Swindon lost to Preston but straight from the first whistle Northampton were on the front foot and got the ball forward into areas where Exeter didn't defend well.

"Exeter struggled to deal with balls into their box all game. You have to stay high and you have to put pressure on the ball but they kept giving long throws away and if you keep doing that against Northampton, the ball will keep coming into the box.

"If you don't win the first contact, it's vital you win the second - but they didn't do that all game. It was mistake after mistake."

Ryan Watson's deflected strike got the Cobblers up and running before Callum Morton poked in his third goal of the play-offs n the half-hour mark.

Wellens was critical of Exeter's defending for the second goal, adding: "For the second goal, I would have my defensive line 10 or 15 yards further forward with the goalkeeper starting on the penalty spot. If you do that, you defend it easily.

"But if you defend deep against Northampton, it's very difficult to win the first contact. It was very clever from Morton and a nice little finish. He was a handful all game.

"Keith Curle is renowned for the way his team plays. They're direct and you know what's coming. I've got a lot of time for Matt Taylor, he's a really classy guy, but he'll be so frustrated because it's not something he didn't expect. His side just didn't deal with it.

"In hindsight, it was probably the wrong decision to pick such a physical team."