Opposition view: Tisdale '˜can't believe' Dons only scored one in Cobblers win

Kieran Agard poked in at the back post to hand Dons a half-time lead against the Cobblers before they created and missed several chances in the second-half, Rhys Healey the main culprit as he three times went close while in-form striker Chuks Aneke also threatened.

Visiting goalkeeper David Cornell, allied to several heroic blocks from his defenders, kept them at bay, and that erratic finishing might have been punished on another day but, as it was, Town could not make their hosts pay despite some late pressure, Daniel Powell squandering a fine chance of his own.

“We were very robust from set plays, got a goal from a set play, we played some great football, we attacked and fluency too,” said Tisdale, whose team have won four in a row and now sit third in League Two.

“I want to be more clinical in front of goal, we’re working on that, but it’s one of those situations where it has been a few weeks where we haven’t quite scored enough goals.

“Once one or two go in, the floodgates will open. It’s a confidence thing, we just need to stroke it home. It’s a nice problem to have.

“I can’t believe it only ended 1-0, there were more goals in that game. But we defended really well, and we can afford to be attack-minded when we have a defensive unit like we do who are blocking everything and playing so well at the back. They’re doing so well, four clean sheets in a row.

“We started the season with a few topics on our agenda, one of them was toughening up our back line and defend our box well.

“We’ve put a lot more work into that than at the attacking end. The latter is something we’re working on now. It’s about clarity, understanding the value of a clean sheet and strong, decisive defending.”