Tom Eaves found it 'infuriating' to watch 'naive' Cobblers from the sidelines

The fit-again striker spent the first 64 minutes as a spectator but it did not make for pretty viewing for anyone of a Cobblers persuasion as Kevin Nolan’s side found themselves 3-0 down to a team placed 18th in League Two.

"It was just a really poor performance and we're very disappointed,” said Eaves. “It's simply not good enough. We started both halves badly and I felt there was a bit of naivety to our performance today and that stings because we work hard all week on the basics and all that type of stuff.

"I just felt we didn't get the basics right today in terms of winning those first contacts and landing on second balls. You could put that down to anything but we were just second best all over the pitch.”

Eaves provided one of very few positives with his 30-minute cameo, in which he set up Cameron McGeehan for a late consolation.

"I don't want to dwell on it too much but it hurts us and we have to review the game and analyse it, although I'm not sure there will be a lot to analyse because I think we all know it was mainly a desire thing today,” Eaves added.

"That's what it felt like watching from the sidelines. I obviously had the benefit of being a supporter watching it from the bench with fresh eyes and I found it really infuriating actually.

"It's sometimes quite hard to see when you're on the pitch yourself and it's hard to feel how the game's going in terms of if you are losing second balls. It was blatantly obvious from the sidelines that we lost individual battles everywhere and that's not good enough.”