Town's 'silly' mistakes are 'soul-destroying' for Brady

Jon Brady admits it is 'soul-destroying' to see the Cobblers keep undoing all their hard work with 'silly errors' after another self-inflicted defeat to rivals Peterborough United on Friday night.

In keeping with their entire season, the Cobblers started well at London Road and looked relatively untroubled against Posh but gave away a cheap goal out of nothing shortly after the half-hour mark.

Sam Hoskins' penalty on the cusp of half-time offered them a lifeline, but within three minutes of the restart Lloyd Jones and Shaun McWilliams lost possession on halfway and a poorly-held defensive line held allowed Sammie Szmodics to net his second.

Jonson Clarke-Harris put the game beyond Town's reach from the spot after a clumsy foul by Hoskins and that effectively confirmed another defeat for Brady's men.

"Straight from kick-off in the second, we had good possession in their final third, we looked after the ball and we moved it well and you thought 'OK, we're going to get back on top and control the game again'," said Brady. "But it's the story of our season and it's poor decision-making at crucial times to give them the goals.

"Sam gives away the penalty but apart from that, and another shot where Mitch (Jonathan Mitchell) makes a good save, that's four efforts all night for a team that's been free-scoring and we then dominated possession towards the end.

"We didn't give in and we pushed and pushed and pushed and had a couple of efforts and forced a decent save towards the end but he palms it out and again it doesn't fall to us.

"What you can't deny is our commitment. Our commitment is excellent, but in crucial moments, we throw the game away and that is the frustrating thing as a manager."

Few would question Town's desire or hunger but they have repeatedly lacked the quality to score enough goals this season, and that shortcoming, combined with their naive errors at the other end, has left them staring relegation in the face.

Brady added: "Peterborough haven't opened us up and they haven't torn us apart. We had control. Even out of possession, we controlled the play today and at 1-1, you're thinking you've got a right chance in the game and you see them on the touchline.

"I never lose heart and I never lose heart with the commitment the players are showing. They are fully committed to the cause and they are giving everything they've got, but sometimes, when you're pushed to the limit of your ability, you make mistakes like we did.

"We're making silly errors in simple situations and that's the biggest frustration. You can set a team up brilliantly but if you continue to make errors like we have done in simple moments and give teams goals, especially when we've worked so hard, it's very soul-destroying.

"But you've got to find the positives and you can never give in and you can never give up. We've got to hope results are very kind on Saturday and then we've got to attack Ipswich on Tuesday."

Unfortunately for Brady, though, results were not kind as Wigan and Rochdale both won, leaving Cobblers in need of a minor miracle to escape the drop.