COBBLERS boss Aidy Boothroyd refused to cite fatigue as a factor as his team succumbed to a first league defeat of the season, at Plymouth Argyle.
Town were beaten 3-2 at Home Park despite a fourth goal of the campaign for Alex Nicholls and a third for central defender David Artell.
They led 1-0 at half-time but were submerged by a barrage of green and white after the interval as Plymouth scored on the 46th minute and added two further goals to secure the win.
The game came less than 48 hours after Boothroyd’s side had played host to – and been beaten by – Wolves in the Capital One Cup second round at Sixfields.
But the manager, who treated his players in a cryogenic chamber between the games to enhance and speed up their recovery, refused to blame tiredness for the loss.
“I don’t think we looked jaded and I don’t want to make excuses like that because I thought we were architects of our own downfall.
“We were very lacklustre in the first five minutes of the second half and we handed the initiative the Plymouth in that time, they didn’t take it, we gave it to them.
“And to be fair to them, they kept going and going after that but the three goals we have conceded were all very poor goals.
“We hit the post and we scored one late on and on another day we would have won that game 5-3 or 6-3 but at the same time we could’ve lost 7-6.
“So we played our part in a spectacle but we want to be winning spectacles like this.”
Boothroyd gave a start to last season’s leading goalscorer Adebayo Akinfenwa but was forced to take the striker off after 50 minutes with a back injury,
Akinfenwa collided with Plymouth defender Darren Purse in the first half and attempted to play through it but ultimately had to be withdrawn.
“It was the old centre-back’s trick where they see the striker coming so they arch their back and he falls over it,” he said.
“It’s all football and we get on with it. We’ll see how he is for Tuesday night.”