Brady relief as Hoskins strike salvages point for 'lack-lustre' Cobblers

Sam Hoskins runs away to celebrate his dramatic late equaliser for the Cobblers against Newport County (Picture: Pete Norton)

Boss Jon Brady was relieved to see his Cobblers team secure a dramatic late point they 'probably didn't deserve' in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Newport County at Sixfields.

Town were second best for much of the Sky Bet League Two contest, and trailed from as early as the second minute following Omar Bogle's scrappy opener from a long throw into the box.

The Cobblers were then indebted to goalkeeper Lee Burge, who pulled off four top-quality saves in a dramatic five-minute spell midway through the first half to keep his team in the game.

Brady admitted the first half showing simply 'wasn't good enough' which led to him making three changes at half-time, and although Town did improve after the break, they still struggled to create any chances.

That was until the second minute of stoppage time when Akin Odimayo leapt highest at the far post to nod a deep Mitch Pinnock cross into the path of top-scorer Sam Hoskins, and he smashed home his 12th goal of the season to snatch a point.

"We were lack-lustre in the first half, and it wasn't good enough," admitted Brady. "I made some changes at half-time, and we needed to.

"I felt we had good possession, but nothing purposeful, and I was very disappointed in that, and I think the crowd felt that as well.

"There was no way we wanted to play like that, to just retain the ball with no purpose and not break their backline. We had opportunities to go forward and came back out, and that was frustrating.

"I needed to try and freshen it up at half-time, and we did.

"Look, when you are not at your best and you concede a really bad goal as we did, you give yourselves an uphill battle.

"When there's a game that you probably should lose and you get a draw out of it, that shows immense character and spirit.

"We never stopped believing, AK (Odimayo) gets a great header down and Sam again saves us."

As for Burge's man-of-the-match performance, Brady said: "They could have quite easily been 3-0 up in the first half.

"Burge has come in and been fantastic for us, and he was fantastic here.

"Overall, that wasn't good enough from us in the first half, but we came back and the positive is we got a point of that game that we probably, on the first half display, didn't deserve."