Cobblers boss Keith Curle was livid with the performance as he reflected on Saturday’s home defeat to Port Vale.
“Today was nowhere near good enough,” he said.
“If you don’t do the basics right you get found out. For 35/40 minutes we were dominant but after the sending off the players didn’t do what needed to be done. At times in the second half we couldn’t keep possession and we just passed the ball out of play.
“We are not good enough at getting the ball down, passing and moving and the worrying thing is the players think they are and they are nowhere near where they need to be.
“The players can’t do the simple and basic things, but they think they are too good to do those things. There are certain things in certain players that I can change but in the players that I can’t I will change those players.
"Some people say we play ugly but I don't trust this group to pass the ball so what choice do we have?
“You can’t move on to the next level if the fundamental things aren’t right.
“Some of the players think the season is over but every day next week we will be in at 9am, the season isn’t over for me and it certainly isn’t over for the players.
“The personnel we’ve got in the changing room isn’t right and the representation of this football club today was poor. I’m out shopping for the summer and we are already out looking for improvement.
“I’ve seen exactly the same as what the supporters have seen and it’s not good enough.”