Boothroyd will ‘never get over’ Cobblers’ play-off final defeat

Cobblers boss Aidy Boothroyd says he will ‘never get over’ the pain of losing Saturday’s npower League Two play-off final at Wembley.

Town were beaten 3-0 by a Bradford City side who the manager admits his team ‘didn’t lay a glove on’, and who powered into a three-goal lead after only half an hour of the game.

It was enough to secure their passage to league one and ensure another year in the basement for Boothroyd and his players.

The bitter feelings he and the squad experienced at the national stadium at the weekend are ones he plans to use as motivation to improve when they return for pre-season training at Sixfields in less than a month’s time.

“As a manager and a player you remember the really good moments and you remember when you get beat as well,” he said.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. That’s not to say I’m going to sulk about it because in a sense I’ve already put it in a box and have forgotten about it.

“I’ll be reminding the players of how it felt and I’ll be using it as a big stick to hit them with and say I don’t want to do that again and be that person again.

“I don’t want the players to be like that again either. So while I’m pleasing about the nice things people are saying about the players and about me, I am very disappointed.”

Bradford played 64 games last season and the general consensus of opinion is that they would have been promoted automatically without the distraction of a run in the Capital One Cup that took them all the way to the final.

Boothroyd, who supported the Bantams as a boy, wants his squad to learn from that resilience and emulate it next season.

“We have to use them as a model for making sure the next time we get to a final or a big game and there is a lull in it, I can use that as a motivation,” he said.

“You’ve got to push and be the best you can be and if you do that, you can live with yourself.

“But I’ve got to let the players know that just getting to these games isn’t enough, you’ve got to win them.”