Ian Sampson had mixed feelings after seeing the Cobblers reserves beat Stevenage Borough 5-3 at Sixfields on Tuesday.

"We started the game really well and I think in the first half we were excellent," he said.

"We came out of the traps really well and we were 3-0 up after just 10 minutes.

"We were really professional in the first half and I praised the lads at half-time.

"The last thing I said to the lads at half-time that we needed to be professional in the second half and not take the mickey out of the game and unfortunately we got sloppy and we let them back into the game.

"Ross Oulton livened us up a little bit when he came on and we got another couple of goals but I wasn't happy with the second half performance at all.

"Players are always out to impress, whether that be a young player or a more experienced pro trying to get into the first team and I think a lot of the players let themselves down in the second half.

"You have got to play for the 90 minutes and if you're good professionals and you're ruthless the score ends up being 6-0 rather than 5-3.

"Some of our finishing was good but also some of our finishing was poor and overall it was a mixed bag really. Chris Dunn did well even though we let in three goals and I thought his distribution in the first half especially was excellent."