Jon Brady insists he has no regrets over Northampton Town's inability to score more at Barrow, which ultimately cost them a place in League One, as they were pipped to the post by Bristol Rovers' incredible 7-0 victory over Scunthorpe United.
Northampton began the day level on points with the Gas but with a five-goal better goal difference - an advantage that was gradually clawed back by Rovers over the course of the afternoon as the Cobblers were unable to add to their three goals at Barrow.
Josh Kay's strike for the hosts at Holker Street, then further reduced their advantage but the Cobblers refused to press on the accelerator and it wasn't until news of Rovers' seventh came through that they went all our for a fourth, with Sam Hoskins denied a hat-trick goal by Paul Farman.
Brady was adamant a 3-1 win would have been sufficient and any greater margin of victory would have seemed improbable before the game, given the strength of the opposition in front of them since Phil Brown was appointed manager earlier this year.
"Let's have it right, Barrow played a full-strength side and they played well,” Brady told the Northampton Chronicle. "They are a good team. No-one, since Phil Brown took them over, has gone 3-0 up at their place. No team has done that.
"I don't think any team has even beaten at their place since Phil came in so we need to give them the full respect they deserve. They pressed us back but we had gone 3-0 up and we also had our chances near the end as well to win by more. There were a couple of really good chances."
Although not publicly stating it, and chairman Kelvin Thomas claims he has congratulated Rovers on their promotion, Northampton are aggrieved at the manner in which they finished fourth behind Rovers on goals scored. That primarily lies with the strength of the Scunthorpe team selected by Keith Hill at the Mem, which included seven teenagers with veterans Liam Feeney and Anthony Grant remaining on the bench.
Northampton left-back Ali Koiki, formerly of Rovers, tweeted on Saturday night a Gif of Didier Drogba's infamous "disgrace" rant in the wake of Chelsea's elimination to Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League semi-final.
Reports on Monday indicated Northampton were ready to submit an official complaint. Bristol Live understands that as of Tuesday lunchtime, the EFL have received "observations" on the matter from Northampton, but no formal complaint as such - in whatever format - has been received, nor is likely to be.
One of the teenagers in Hill's line-up, Oliver Lobley who, on debut, scored the opening goal of the game into his own net and was substituted on 27 minutes, was released by Scunthorpe on Tuesday. Hill had stated his reasoning for including so many youngsters was as a test ahead of next season to see if they were equipped for senior football.
"As a club we have been overwhelmed by the support shown across all of football following a very tough day Saturday," Cobblers chairman Thomas said.
"We have obviously spoken to the EFL regarding some matters but probably more so about the rules going forward and we certainly do not expect anything to change in the short term. I have already congratulated the Bristol Rovers chairman on their promotion.
"We are now totally focused on the play-offs against Mansfield. We can't lose sight of the fact that this group of players achieved 80 points over the season which we finished very strongly winning five of our last five games."
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