Tom Eaves shouldered the blame for his part in Rotherham’s game-changing equaliser on Tuesday.

The 34-year-old striker finished well to give Cobblers a first half lead at the New York Stadium, but it all fell apart in the second 45 minutes. Eaves was responsible for defending at the near post from a Rotherham corner but he found himself in slightly the wrong place and as a result Joe Powell’s cross flew over his head to be nodded in by Harry Gray. That changed the momentum of the game and the Millers went on to secure a vital victory thanks to Emmanuel Adegboyega’s late winner.

"It’s a really tough one to take,” rued a deflated Eaves. “It was a bit of a game of two halves. We felt really on top in the first half and we went into half-time really positive because we felt we dictated large parts of the game, but unfortunately we couldn’t continue that and we were punished for it.

"To concede two set-pieces is so disappointing because we do a lot of work and spend a lot of time on them on the training pitch. It’s just not good enough. The first one is especially frustrating because I think I’ve probably made an error of judgement. I was standing a bit too far beyond the near post and it’s gone over my head and they’ve scored, so I probably take that one.”

Now seven without a win in the league, Eaves says Town’s only option is to stay positive and keep grinding away.

"We have to take the positives because we have no other option,” he added. “It’s really tough but we have to stick together and we have to build on those positive moments from the first half.

"Those two goals are like gut punches when there’s nothing in the game. We actually started the second half well and we definitely should have had a penalty.

“The officials didn’t help us but we know we can’t count on them and we can’t keep having that conversation – the only people we can rely on is ourselves and we let ourselves down in the last half an hour.”

Eaves chose not to celebrate after steering Cobblers into a 26th-minute lead despite being given no shortage of stick on his return to his former club.

"When opposition fans boo you it means you’re a bit of a threat so I’ve never taken offence to that to be honest,” he said. "My time at Rotherham was blighted a bit after Paul Warne left, it might have been different had he stayed, but all my focus is on Northampton now and we have a big game at the weekend.”