Missed chances frustrate Jon Brady as Northampton drop points

Posted Sunday, April 10, 2022 by PA

Northampton’s finishing bore the brunt of Jon Brady’s frustration after Saturday’s goalless draw with Bradford.

The home side created a string of chances in both halves at Sixfields but failed to take any of them, with Sam Hoskins and Louis Appere particularly wasteful as the former fired the best chance against the bar.

The draw drops Northampton to fifth in League Two and leaves them in danger of dropping outside of the play-off places altogether.

“It was a frustrating one,” admitted Brady. “I think we have hit the bar three times in the last four games now – we just need it to go in.

“We had a lot of chances today, we took 17 shots in total and I think if we had scored the first one, we would have gone on and scored more.

“The problem at the end was that the boys were really pushing forward and they showed their will to win but our balance wasn’t quite right and we left ourselves open.

“But overall we played some fantastic stuff and just couldn’t put the ball into the back of the net.

“Potentially players can snatch at chances but I don’t know if that was the case. I will speak to them and debrief it but you see them in training and the finishing is excellent.

“You have to credit their goalkeeper as well because he’s made a couple of fantastic saves and we hit the bar and there were goalmouth scrambles but unfortunately we couldn’t put the ball away.”

After being outplayed in the first half at Sixfields, Bradford boss Mark Hughes was far happier with his side’s second-half display.

“I was more pleased with the second half,” said Hughes. “I thought we really took the game to Northampton, we finished strong and if not for a fantastic save by their goalkeeper at the end we would have won the game.

“They put the ball in our box, which is to be expected, and in the first half we were a little bit too anxious when we didn’t need to be. We tried to get the ball forward too quickly and we had to be calmer.

“Sometimes you can’t snap out of that but we had a sit down at half-time and calmed everyone down and I thought we were better in the second half.

“It’s a good point away from home against a team in the play-off places. You can see why they are up there because they ask questions of you and put the ball into good areas and you have to defend well.

“There were a few scrambles but you expect that as an away team and sometimes you have to ride your luck. I thought we dealt with them well and finished the stronger team.”