Northampton boss Kevin Nolan was “absolutely delighted” with his players after they held runaway League One leaders Birmingham to a 1-1 draw on Saturday.
Nolan’s side were outstanding in the first half at Sixfields and thoroughly deserved to take the lead thanks to Tomoki Iwata’s self-inflicted own goal on 17 minutes while playing out from the back.
Keshi Anderson headed Blues level in first half stoppage-time with only their second shot of the game but, despite then dominating, they could not find a winner.
Nolan said: “I’m absolutely delighted and I’ve just said to the players that I’m really pleased for them because they deserve that for the shift they put in.
“They took on all the information we gave them and we always knew this would be a very tough test against top of the league.
“Birmingham have really good players and a really good structure and Davo (Chris Davies) has done a fantastic job with them, but I thought we more than matched them today and it was a great effort.
“We knew we would have to suffer at times without the ball but the lads were terrific and I thought we deserved a point.
“It was a little bit of a sucker-punch to concede right on half-time because it was their first shot on target but that’s what happens against good teams with quality players.
“It was unfortunate because who knows what we could have done in the second half but I can’t fault the lads. I’m really happy with them.”
Birmingham are now 12 points clear at the top and remain well on course for an immediate return to the Championship.
“We started the game too slowly,” admitted Blues boss Davies. “I had the chance to address that in one of the water breaks and from that moment on we seemed to come alive a little bit.
“We were too passive and too slow but we got the goal and I thought we were very good in the second half. We’ve played worse and won games this season.
“I take responsibility for the goal we conceded because that’s the way we play and the way I want them to play and that was an unfortunate moment, but we’ve done it successfully this season and these things happen.
“The game was very broken and it takes a long time to get going again when there’s a throw-in or set-piece. There’s no right or wrong way to play football, that’s their style, but it just makes it hard to get any rhythm.
“We were relieved to come in at half-time level but the second half was all one-way traffic and we had a couple of good chances to win the game.
“We just couldn’t find the goal but we’re away from home and if you can’t win, don’t lose and I can’t be too critical of the players.”
