Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MARTYN NOT SMARTIN’
Waghorn looking at the positives as Derby miss big opportunity to stretch the gap over chasing pack
PAUL BROWN
MARTYN WAGHORN says automatic promotion is still in Derby’s hands despite their nightmare in Northampton.
The Rams had Sonny Bradley sent off and lost Nathaniel Mendez-laing to a hamstring injury as they went down to a winner from Sam Hoskins (right) at Sixfields.
In doing so, they missed a chance to narrow the gap on League One leaders Portsmouth to two points – and go seven clear of Bolton.
Derby now face a tough double header against Blackpool on Friday and table-toppers Pompey the following Tuesday.
But Rams forward Waghorn said: “It’s still in our hands. We were angry, of course, after the game. We’ve got standards. We fell below them. We’re frustrated. We’ve got to bounce back quickly.
“We are very disappointed. It was a big opportunity to build that gap. But on the flip side we’ve been on a good run lately.
“We’ve got some big games coming up and we’re more than capable of turning it around.”
Boss Paul Warne refused to blame Northampton’s failure to water the pitch for what was a below-par performance.
He said: “I don’t blame them.
Why would you? It would suit our game more! I can’t complain about that.
“The players are not idiots.
They know how important every game is.
You’re giving all the other teams up there a boost.
“I’d like to think they will want to come out and show their mettle now.
“This was probably a coupon-buster. Now we have two tough-looking games. But maybe that will suit us better.”
Northampton’s Manny Monthe reckons the Cobblers proved their critics wrong after some accused them of being on the beach.
With safety already secured and little to play for against a team who beat them 4-0 in October, few were expecting this result.
But Monthe said: “This club has always proved people wrong and we did that again. We showed a lot of resilience.
“We’re really pleased. It was about sticking together and getting that edge back. We showed we can mix it with some of the better teams.
“When we played them a few months ago, people probably doubted us.
“But we dug deep and got a big result and a clean sheet this time. It shows that we are capable of getting big results.” Monthe had an eventful game, smashing a 25-yard effort off a post and then going down in the late melee that saw Bradley sent off.
He said: “I thought I had scored! I haven’t seen it back but I know I hit it really nice.
“What happened at the end was just part of the game. It was a bit of a clash but when stuff happens you move forward.”