Duff praises Varney as Cheltenham dent Northampton’s play-off hopes

Posted Sunday, March 24, 2019 by PA

Cheltenham boss Michael Duff hailed Luke Varney after a brace from the veteran helped fire the Robins to a 3-1 Sky Bet League Two win over Northampton.

Varney scored twice in the first half to take his total for the season to 13, followed by a header from strike partner Tyrone Barnett after the break that clinched the win.

Dean Bowditch pulled one back for the Cobblers, who saw their eight-match unbeaten run brought to abrupt end.

“It’s a great return from Reg (Varney), 13 goals, and I’m almost fed up of talking him about him now!” Duff said.

“He’s been great, and when I knew him from playing against him, he was always the foil.

“But when he plays alongside Tyrone he can work off him rather than being the one who flicks it on to people.

“He’s a handful and never gives you a minute’s peace, I knew that from marking him.

“You don’t play at the level he’s played at without having a game understanding. I am glad I brought him in and it’s worked out well for both parties.”

Northampton boss Keith Curle admitted his side were nowhere near good enough.

“The performance today wasn’t us and we didn’t start the way we needed to,” Curle said.

“Too many players were making the wrong decisions at the wrong time and we gave them a two-goal head start.

“The tempo and the urgency weren’t there, and we didn’t have too many players putting demands on each other.

“For the last four or five weeks we’ve put those demands on each other – today we didn’t.

“We looked dismantled. With eight games left we thought we could afford to draw one, lose one and needing to win six to make the play-offs – that’s the loss out of the way!”