DEEGAN PILES ON PAIN FOR AUSTIN
DEAN AUSTIN was ‘absolutely gutted’ by his Northampton side’s failure to claim all three points after their draw against Cambridge United.
After a goalless first half, Kevin van Veen twice gave Northampton the lead with two emphatic finishes, but George Maris cancelled out the first before Gary Deegan struck with just three minutes left to earn United a point.
“I’m gutted, absolutely gutted,” said Austin. “That’s football – it’s a cruel game sometimes.
“Having seen what they created, I wouldn’t say we looked shaky. They had a couple of set-pieces, but on the whole I felt we were fairly comfortable to be honest.
“We’ve worked hard on the training field, but we have to be better at closing the game out. I think the players deserve unbelievable credit for the football that they’re playing and the way we’re trying to play the game.
“I thought we were excellent again, but we’ve got to dust ourselves and regroup and learn how to close games out.
“I felt at half-time that we needed a little more composure and guile in the final third to exploit the space they were leaving for us, but you can’t be having to score three goals at home to be winning a game of football and that’s what we’ve spoken about and that’s the disappointment.
“We’ll look at their two goals, but it’s very hard to take at this moment in time.” The first half mostly belonged to Northampton as Matt Crooks and Andy Williams missed chances but it was not until 13 minutes into the second-half when van Veen gathered Daniel Powell’s pass and smashed into the top corner. Crooks also headed a great chance over the crossbar and he was made to rue that miss 20 minutes from time when Maris finished coolly into the bottom corner after pouncing on a poor defensive header.
Cambridge boss Joe Dunne hailed a valuable point for his team.
He said: “It’s a good point for us and a deserved point in the end at a club who are expected to challenge for promotion. We showed great character twice and to go away with a draw is of value to us.
“We know where we are at the moment and we know there are one or two things to work on, but that’s what the training pitch is for.
“They’re chasing their first win but we dug in and never gave up right until the very end and what epitomised that was Gary scoring a wonderful goal.
“They had a bit of pressure and territory in the game for sure and I think (Dimitar) Mitov was worked in the first half but you can have as many chances as you want, you’ve got to score them.”
NORTHAMPTON: Cornell 5, Buchanan 5, Pierre 5, Taylor 5, Odofin 5,Hoskins 5, Foley 6, Crooks 6, A Williams 5 (Morias 73, 3), van Veen 8, Powell 6 (Bowditch 81, 3) Subs not used: Facey, Barnett,Waters, O’Toole, Ward
CAMBRIDGE: Mitov 5, Halliday 5, Darling 5, Taft 5, Carroll 5, Deegan 7, O’Neil 5 (Brown 69, 3), Maris 6, Lambe 4 (Amoo 55, 4), Azeez 5 (Corr 81, 3), Ibehre 5 Subs not used: Dunk, Osadebe, John, Pilkington