Stevenage manager Steve Evans claimed Northampton should have had two players sent off during Saturday’s 1-1 draw between the two promotion chasers at Sixfields.

Louis Appere’s early opener was cancelled out by Jamie Reid 18 minutes from time as both sides remained in the top three in League Two.

“The goal after five minutes makes it’s incredibly tough,” said Evans. “There was quite a strong wind and we made a decision to defend it in the first half but it looks like it was a mix-up for their goal.

“They had better possession than us and we struggled for fluency but I made a decision to change the system at half-time and it obviously worked because the second half was our best performance since I’ve come in.

“We made a really good side look very average and they’re not average – they have top players with top coaches – but we laid siege to their goal.

“There have been words attributed to us from different managers in recent weeks but we have just switched off from all that nonsense and concentrated on ourselves.

“Everyone who is everyone said we would lose because they have better players and better coaches and better everything, but let the second half performance speak for itself.”

Evans felt Akin Odimayo and Tete Yengi could both have seen red.

He added: “We can’t allow for the challenge on Alex Gilbey – it’s a straight red for me.

“But the challenge on Carl Piergianni is absolutely disgraceful. There’s no place in football for that. Our big centre-half has his nose hanging off and he’s cut to bits. It’s quite alarming.

“I think any neutral who was here today would say that Northampton should have been down to 10 men and maybe we should win 4-1.”

Northampton manager Jon Brady said: “It was a game of two halves. We came out the blocks firing and we had them on the back foot.

“We score the goal, then Louis has that header which I thought was going in and that would have put us 2-0 up and given us more of an advantage at half-time.

“We had the wind against us in the second half but they are efficient and brilliant at what they do and it was relentless.

“When we had opportunities to play and show some composure, we got caught up in it a bit and we didn’t use the ball well enough at times.

“Obviously we changed shape to try and combat the pressure they put on us in the second half but we still had a few efforts.

“They are a real good side and have been up there all season so credit to them, they are really good at what they do, but fair play to us as well, we stood up strong to it.”