Captain Carlisle makes feelings known after ‘disgusting’ display

The Cobblers were so comprehensively beaten that the League Two play-off final was all but over inside half-an-hour thanks to three quick-fire City goals.

Town manager Aidy Boothroyd felt Bradford’s previous trip to Wembley in the Capital One Cup final less than three months earlier had been a factor in how quickly the Yorkshire club settled compared to his own players.

Captain Carlisle, who spent a little over two months with York City earlier this season before moving to Sixfields in November, agreed that the Bantams’ earlier visit could have played a part in the Yorkshire side settling so quickly.

However, the one-time Leeds United defender – who has admitted via Twitter that James Hanson had “owned” him during the final – also lambasted the level of Northampton’s performance.

He said: “It is really hard to put into words how bad it felt. Other than to say it was disgusting.

“We just didn’t do our jobs, myself included. Bradford are a very strong and organised side. And what they do, they do very well. We just didn’t deal with it.

“After 30 minutes, the tie was virtually all over. Then, it was just about pride for ourselves.”

Bradford’s trio of first-half strikes were very similar in both creation and execution with initial left wing crosses leading ultimately to clinical finishes from inside the six-yard box.

Carlisle added: “Hanson won all the first balls and we didn’t stop the crosses from the wide players. Then, when they came in, we didn’t defend them. You do that and you get punished.

“The play-offs are the greatest way to get promoted and the worst way to fail. And this feels horrible, the biggest anti-climax of our lives.”

Northampton had gone into the final having failed to claim a win over Bradford in four previous meetings this season.

Despite that, confidence was high at Sixfields that Town could prevail following the impressive manner of their two-legged semi-final win over Cheltenham Town.

Two clean sheets and a 2-0 aggregate victory to go with a 2-0 win over Barnet on the final day of the regular season meant Boothroyd’s side had travelled to Wembley without conceding a goal in 274 minutes.

It took Bradford, however, just 15 minutes to breach the Northampton defence courtesy of a looping header from Hanson.

McArdle and Wells, in netting his seventh goal in six appearances against the Cobblers, then dashed any hopes Boothroyd had of making it a notable play-off double against opposition from his native West Yorkshire.

He felt Phil Parkinson’s side having played at Wembley as recently as February 24 had worked in the Bantams’ favour.

He said: “I’ll admit that before the game I thought Bradford’s visit here in the League Cup, when they got beat, would work in our favour.

“But it didn’t. Their players started the better and we never got to the pace of the game until it was all-but over. We looked like a rabbit in the headlights and that killed us.

“For 30 minutes, there were a few of my players out there who were unrecognisable from the lads who had got us this far. They just didn’t perform. I have a talented group but, on the day, we got a bit of stage fright. Every actor gets that from time to time and the key is how they come back for their next performance.”

Boothroyd had sprung the big pre-match surprise by opting to start with Clive Platt, whose last appearance had been against York City on April 13, ahead of top scorer Adebayo Akinfenwa.

The move backfired with Platt proving ineffective before being replaced by 17-goal Akinfenwa 10 minutes into the second half.

Boothroyd, whose previous play-off experience had ended with his Watford side beating Leeds United in the 2006 Championship final, said: “I have no regrets at all. I wouldn’t do anything differently. Nothing at all.

“As a manager and a coach, you have a plan for what you are going to do. If you pick a team and it wins, then you are a very, very good manager. But if a team doesn’t win then there are always things that can be said. It was a culmination of a very good season going badly wrong at the end.”