Platt didn’t expect to start Cobblers’ Wembley clash

Manager Aidy Boothroyd dropped a couple of selection bombshells an hour before kick-off by naming Platt and winger Ishmel Demontagnac – neither of whom started the semi-final second leg at Cheltenham – in the Town starting XI.

It was a move which stunned supporters and also caught former Coventry City front man Platt by surprise.

Asked if he expected to start the game, the 35-year-old said: “No, no – I have still been trying to recover from my injury to get back.

“I knew I wouldn’t have lasted the game, but it was great to be a part of it. I just wish we could have done a bit better.

“It (the calf) felt fine, but when you come off at half-time you stop for 10 or 15 minutes. It went rock solid and the beginning of the second half was tough.”

Platt’s first start since the Good Friday meeting with Torquay didn’t go to plan as Cobblers were completely outplayed by Bradford City.

Town were 3-0 down inside 28 minutes and Platt said: “They started off much livelier. They turned us and we just never seemed to recover from that.

“We seemed to sit deep and invite the crosses in. We had to try to stop them doing that - we didn’t and paid the price.”

The big forward, who still has a year to run on his contract at Sixfields, says this season is one the Cobblers can be proud of despite the Bradford battering.

“The gaffer’s taken the team from the bottom of the league and looking like they’re going to get relegated to promotion contenders in a year and a half,” he said.

“We’ve had a good season, it’s just come to a disappointing end. Getting to Wembley – everyone is disappointed with it now.

“I’m sure when the gaffer turned up at Sixfields and the team was bottom of the league, if he was to say we’d be at a Wembley final this season, everybody would have thought he was crazy at the time.”