Jon Brady says Cobblers were 'outrun and outfought' and got what they deserved against Stevenage

Cobblers boss Jon Brady said his side were ‘outrun and outfought’ and got exactly what they deserved after slumping to a 3-0 defeat away at Stevenage on Boxing Day.

It all went wrong from as early as the second minute at the Lamex Stadium when a mix-up between Jon Guthrie and Sam Sherring presented Jamie Reid with the opener before Jordan Roberts’ deflected cross deceived Max Thompson and floated in at the back post.

Elliott List extended the lead to three in the second half and it could easily have been more for Stevenage such was their dominance and superiority against a Northampton side who were completely off-colour.

"We were outrun and outfought today,” admitted Brady. “You can’t give away an early goal in the manner we did against a team like Stevenage. The two centre-halves went for the same ball and it’s not good defending.

"The second one is a freak goal which loops in at the far post and that shouldn’t happen either and then the third goal is again not good defending by the back four. All three goals were hugely disappointing.

"To go behind so early in the game and in the way we did makes it such an uphill battle. We came here to win today but there’s no doubts that they deserved all three points.

"We’re all disappointed but it’s important to have some perspective because it’s a tough schedule and I’m having to manage bodies. It wasn’t a good performance by any means and I feel sorry for our fans because that isn’t the standard we expect, but to be 11th at the halfway stage of the season, we would have taken that.”