Owls Shown Too Much Respect

Manager Ian Sampson says that his Cobblers side shown Sheffield Wednesday too much respsect as the Owls ran out 3-2 winners at Hillsborough on Saturday afternoon, ending Northampton any hopes of a potential money spinning third round tie.

A Beever’s header and Miller penalty gave the Owls a two goal advantage in the first half before Billy McKay pulled one back to end his recent goal scoring drought. Another Miller penalty ended Northampton hope before Kevin Thornton added what was to be a late consolation.

Sampson was disappointed to see his side dumped out of the competition but was pleased his team did not give up without a fight.

‘I’m disappointed we are out of the cup but I felt we gave it a reall good go in the second half,’ Sampson told ntfc.co.uk.

‘It was an entertaining cup tie but I just felt we gave Sheffield Wednesday a bit too much respect in the first half.’

Cobblers striker Billy McKay ended his 12 game goal scoring drought when he brought the away side back into the game at 2-1, and Ian Sampson was pleased with the Northern Ireland Under-21 striker, who finally got his goal since netting in a 2-0 victory over Bradford in September.

‘It was a cool finish from McKay for our first goal and I thought the two strikers worked really hard,’ Sampson continued.

‘Billy hasn’t scored for a while so it was nice for him to get a goal and he deserved it for his all round performance.’

And after Saturday’s defeat, which now means Northampton are out of all cup competitions, Sampson is keen for his side to kick on in the league, who look to climb the League Two table as they welcome Stockport to Sixfields next weekend.

‘I’m disappointed that we are out of the cup but our main focus has always been the league and we know that we need to get ourselves out of the position we are in at the moment.’

‘We’ve only lost one of our last five games in the league and I think our home form has generally been okay so if we can get three points against Stockport on Saturday hopefully we can start moving up the table.