After the Leeds United manager saw his team beaten at Sixfields in midweek he questioned if Northampton Town play with that much enthusiasm every week.

The answer is that they do not.

What else could explain defeats against average teams like Swindon Town and Walsall for a group of players who have played Bolton and Sunderland off their own grounds?

The name of Colchester United was added to the list of League One sides who have beaten the Cobblers this season, double-underlining the Jekyll and Hyde characteristic of a team who sank the residents of the division's millionaires row only four days earlier.

Saturday's game was lost in a first half where the home side did not get close enough to their opponents and then did nothing with the ball
when they took their turn in possession.

Danny Jackman's deflected free-kick reduced the arrears in the second half and provided a spark of hope as Northampton finally got their act together and started to play some football.

But with a two-goal cushion and visiting goalkeeper Jimmy Walker taking an aeon over every goal kick, the Essex boys bagged the points.

A Cobblers side unchanged from the one which beat Leeds started at a decent tempo but it was Colchester who had the first good scoring chance, Chris Coyne finding space to flick a header narrowly over from a corner on six minutes.

Clive Platt was not so profligate when a header came his way on 23 minutes, Mark Yeates floating a ball in from the right flank which the tall striker buried beyond a completely beaten Frank Fielding.

Neither team deserved to be in front at that point with Colchester playing like a typical away side and the Cobblers lacking any of the urgency and fluency that helped them beat Leeds.

Minutes later former Northamptn defender Reid found more space around exactly the same spot where Platt scored to double the Us' advantage.

It might have been three soon after when Yeates swapped wings and hit a blocked shot after cutting in.

Given that he had a fitness test before the game and took a hefty whack during it, there were fears Jackman might not come out for the second half.

But re-emerge he did, to hit a free-kick which was not exactly trademark but nonetheless effective, taking a huge deflection off the wall and spinning in beyond a committed Walker.

Northampton had the bulk of the second-half possession and most of it in a good area, but – to borrow a term from rugby union – they did
not 'execute' well.