Boss gives honest assessment of Northampton defeat
Burton Albion manager Gary Rowett was disappointed with the showing of his side as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Northampton Town.
It was a disappointing Brewers showing at Sixfields against struggling Northampton, and Rowett says the hosts deserved the win.
“We were disappointing and it wasn’t the greatest of our 42 performances this season. I was disappointed with the way we started and we didn’t match the tempo of Northampton. We knew they’d start brightly and try to pin us back with their long throws and using three strikers, so in general, disappointment is probably the word for today.
“We didn’t attack with the same incisiveness as we’ve shown on other occasions this season. We haven’t scored enough goals this season and maybe that came to the fore a bit today that we didn’t create enough chances,” he said.
“We had a good chance with Shane late in the first half, and if that goes in it may have been slightly different. We lost Damien McCrory before the game which unbalances you slightly, but we have to get on with it.
“We didn’t play with the same desire – and that’s not taking anything away from Northampton as they showed really good determination and that sometimes in games like these you need to want it a bit more, and I don’t feel as if we showed enough appetite for the game.
The Brewers were undone by John Marquis’ first-half goal, and Rowett says the Brewers got what they deserved against a side for whom he had plenty of praise.
“It was a poor goal for us to concede, but you can’t say on the balance of the game that we deserved anything more than to lose. I said to the players that today is the most disappointing we’ve been this season. They’ve been excellent for 42 games so now we need to get back on the horse and go again.
“It wasn’t a difficult decision to bring Rob Lainton off as he’s damaged a tendon in his finger. He felt the shot dipped a bit and the shot caught the end of his finger so he was unable to continue. The last thing you want to do is bring the goalkeeper off and use one of your changes.
“We changed it a bit at half-time to try and pin them back but we didn’t create enough clear cut chances and you have to say that Northampton deserved the three points.”