Chris Hogg rues missed chances as Northampton beaten by Tranmere
Bobby Faulkner headed the only goal as Rovers picked up their first away win of the season.
Frustration was the overriding emotion for Northampton boss Chris Hogg after Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat to Tranmere.
Looking to back up a fine win at Grimsby, the Cobblers dominated the opening half-hour at Sixfields but missed a number of chances to take the lead.
And they were punished eight minutes before the break when Bobby Faulkner headed in Will Vaulks’ corner, which proved the decisive moment in the game.
Northampton huffed and puffed in the second half but created little.
“It’s frustrating to say the least,” admitted Hogg. “I’m disappointed and frustrated because you have that spell in the first half where you have to score.
“You score and it’s a different game and you build belief around the stadium and in the team.
“It’s disappointing to lose the game to a set-piece goal. It’s frustrating. We have to be better.
“We’ve managed to score goals in key moments in the last couple of games but it’s all fine creating chances, you have to take them and that ruthless mindset is something we’ve lacked in moments for me.
“It’s a results business and we have to get better results than we are now, that’s for sure.
“You look at tonight, it’s the most possession we’ve had in a game and we’ve probably had around 20 shots, but we have to test the goalkeeper more.
“Fair play to Tranmere, they were dogged and determined in how they defended their box and you know Darrell (Clarke) will have his team organised, but we got into good areas and then a little bit of quality let us down.
“The message to the group is yes, be hurt, be disappointed, but we have to dust ourselves down and go again on Saturday.”
Clarke’s assistant Dean Whitehead was on media duties after Tranmere’s first away win of the season.
He said: “When you go away in League Two, it’s not going to be easy and we were under a lot of stress today.
“We had to defend our box really well and to a man, I thought everyone worked incredibly hard.
“It’s a League Two game away from home, it’s not going to be pretty but we’ve scored from a set-piece, we’ve dug deep and it’s three big points.
“It’s never going to be perfect and they started well, but we changed our tactical approach out of possession slightly and we’ve defended our goal like warriors and Bobby’s popped up with a header.
“We’re all learning, that was probably our worst performance of the season, but we’ll take the three points and move on to the weekend.”