Boothroyd concerned at Cobblers’ habit of hitting the self-destruct button

Town threw away a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 to Torquay United at Sixfields on Saturday, their third defeat in four Sky Bet League Two games.

It came after a first half that left Boothroyd pleased but on which they failed to build in a second half that saw the Gulls seize the initiative and take the points.

The loss comes after a 2-0 reverse at Southend in which Chris Hackett was sent off and a 1-0 failure at York City after Darren Carter had seen red.

Sandwiched between those results was a win over Newport County that was generally pleasing, but the manager is concerned at the self-destruct nature of his current side.

“You don’t become a bad team overnight,” he said.

“We played some good stuff in the first half but the game lasts 90 minutes.

“We seem to be beating ourselves at the moment and that is not something that we want.

“If you get beat, you hold your hands up. We’d had Torquay scouted, we knew what they were all about and we fancied our chances.

“Now we have to make sure we put in a performance and get a result at Bristol Rovers next weekend.

“We didn’t threaten anywhere near enough against Torquay.

“When the ball’s in the air you have to head it and you have to try to get in behind people. There wasn’t enough of that.”