Northampton boss Jon Brady admitted his side struggled with fatigue in the second half of Saturday’s 1-0 win over Crewe.
The Cobblers, who were without 10 players due to injury and suspension, moved back into the automatic promotion places in Sky Bet League Two thanks to Louis Appere’s first-half strike.
But missed chances almost came back to bite Northampton, who visibly tired in the second half and had to survive a few scary moments before clinching a third successive 1-0 win at home.
“I thought we started off really well in the first half and to get the goal quite early on was important,” said Brady.
“The front three were all involved in the goal but unfortunately we didn’t get the second or third that I thought we deserved and that kept them in the game.
“We came out in the second half and we are running a bit on empty at the moment because we are playing the same players all the time due to the injuries.
“We had to change shape again and find a different way and on the bench we have a 17-year-old from the youth team and a first-year pro who has been brought back from a loan.
“We emptied the tank on Tuesday and we had to go again and I felt we lacked energy but I don’t think they had a shot on target.
“We came out flying and if we had scored a second and a third, it’d have been more comfortable. They had a bit more possession in the second half but we’ve won 1-0 and that’s what we came here to achieve.”
Crewe boss Lee Bell said: “Like on Tuesday, it was a highly avoidable goal but if we are asking them to play a certain way, mistakes are going to happen and unfortunately for us it ended up with the decisive goal.
“It’s an avoidable goal and there’s not a lot between the teams in terms of those that are at the top of the table against teams lower down. You can see that with the results today.
“But consistency is the main difference. The top teams are able to hit a level of consistency and that’s what we are trying to get to.
“We never really threatened their goal. We built the ball up nicely and got into good positions but I think we only had one shot on target.
“It was tough to get in behind them and then when we did get into those positions, we were shot-shy. I said to the players that they need to get their shots away earlier.
“What we didn’t do is have an attack and then have another attack, they seemed to come out with the ball around their penalty box a lot, and we couldn’t sustain it.”
