Boothroyd issues rallying cry

Northampton boss Aidy Boothroyd insists his side must work harder to improve their luck following a 3-0 defeat at Mansfield.

Struggling Town were beaten by strikes from Ben Hutchinson, Sam Clucas and a Mathias Kouo-Doumbe own goal. Boothroyd, back at his old club, said: "We need some good old fashioned hard work to turn things around and get back to winning ways. "When things don't go for you, you redouble your efforts and work twice as hard. So we will be in tomorrow all day and every day and we will work twice as hard until we get this right. "I have seen this before and it's all about players stepping up, taking control and winning a game. "I am really disappointed today, we have done enough in the last two or three games to win plenty of games. "The stats may show we were dominant, but the fact of the matter is that we lost 3-0. "Carry on like this and we will be way off where we want to be. It's not about sulking or blaming the referee - the ref had a good game today. We just need to get on with it." Had Clive Platt put away a free header on two minutes, the game could have followed a very different path. But it was the home side who brought the game to life with two goals in as many minutes. Hutchinson curled a perfect 25-yard free-kick over the wall and under the angle to open the scoring on 31 minutes and Clucas' fourth goal in as many games soon after, a low finish from Ryan Tafazzoli's pass, had the Cobblers reeling. Home keeper Alan Marriott then made some crucial stops, keeping out two fine free-kicks from Darren Carter and beating away an Ian Morris shot. And it was 3-0 on 65 minutes when Cobblers debutant Kouo-Doumbe volleyed a spectacular own goal as he sliced a Marriott clearance up and over his own keeper from 20 yards. Still Northampton kept going and Marriott denied Jacob Blyth with his legs before seeing James Jennings head off the line. Northampton's luck remained out as Blyth also hit the post with the last kick of the game.