The players didn't let me down against Rotherham despite poor performance, insists Sampson

Sampson’s hopes of being given the job on a full-time basis – should he want it – would not have been helped by the manner of the loss at the New York Stadium as Cobblers fell behind inside three minutes and never recovered.

It was all too easy for Jonson Clarke-Harris to head in the opener, albeit seemingly from an offside position, before he then added a second while Andre Green’s third meant it was game over with 40 minutes still to play.

"Steve Evans' teams are always hard to play against but you know what to expect and you have to do your best to compete against them,” said Sampson. "We didn't win enough first balls or second balls and that just created momentum for them for most of the game. There's no excuses but now we need a reaction going forward because Charlton next Saturday will be a similar, albeit not to the same extent, and we need to do better.”

Defender TJ Eyoma felt the players let Sampson down but the caretaker boss disagreed, saying: "The players didn't compete to the levels they should but they didn't let me down. I said to them on Monday, whenever there's been adversity in the last couple of years, they have stepped up and produced the goods. We're in a bit of adversity at the moment but they are proud professionals so I'm sure they will be better going forward.”

Eyoma, who came on at half-time, was one of the few positives for Sampson.

"I was pleased for TJ when he came on,” he added. “He gave us a bit more strength in that position and something we've been missing. We've only had one centre-half fit but TJ's coming back and Jordan was on the bench and it'll be good for us to have them available going forward.”