Accrington manager Leam Richardson says his team’s failure to nullify Adebayo Akinfenwa and a ‘crazy five minutes’ led to their downfall at the hands of the Cobblers on Saturday.
And Richardson felt the scoreline could have been worse for his side, who he admitted had spent much of their training in the build-up to the game formulating a strategy to deal with Akinfenwa.
Town ran out 4-2 winners with their powerful number 10, who was applauded off the pitch by the home supporters, helping himself to a first career hat-trick.
It was a scoreline that looked unlikely on the hour-mark when the home side were leading 2-1 and their opponents starting to look like they were running out of ideas.
But the introduction of Jake Robinson, who also scored, and Ishmel Demontagnac freshened up the attack and saw Northampton scored three goals in nine second-half minutes and run out convincing winners.
“It was a crazy five minutes which dictated the game after we had found ourselves in front and comfortable,” said Richardson, who was previously unbeaten as Accrington boss.
“We had worked all week on combating Akinfenwa as he has been around this league a long time and we know what he does.
“For a decent period he was ineffective and then it was a mad five minutes.
“We went from comfortable to being behind, then we lost our shape as we chased the game and it could have been worse in the last 10 minutes.
“We gave them a helping hand as all the goals were similar but we are young lads and we are learning and we will stick together, If we play like that, we will win more than we lose.
“Sometimes, it just doesn’t roll for you.”
And he added: “It’s difficult to take, as I looked around the dressing room and couldn’t pick out a bad performance, in fact I could pick out some good performances, yet we have lost and conceded four goals.”
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