Harriman rues wasteful finishing as Diamonds’ County Cup hopes are dashed by Cobblers youngsters
Boss Michael Harriman was left to rue his side's wasteful finishing after they were dumped out of the NFA Hillier Senior Cup semi-finals by Northampton Town Under-23s on penalties on Tuesday night.
The Cobblers youngsters netted a stoppage time penalty through Freddie Findlay to secure a 2-2 draw in normal time at Hayden Road, and then held their nerve in an exciting shootout that they eventually won 9-8 to set up a final date with Corby Town.
Goalkeeper James Dadge was the hero for Town, scoring the winning penalty having seconds earlier made a crucial save.
For Diamonds, they were left frustrated as they let 1-0 and 2-1 leads slip, with their goals coming from Callum Ballinger and Jamal Adams, with Harriman particularly aggrieved his team didn't make more of a dominant first-half performance.
"It's disappointing, and to score two goals at home and not get the job done, but when you get to penalties it's the luck of the draw," said Harriman.
"There were a lot of penalties, a lot of penalties saved, but fair play to Northampton as they got the job done.
"We had a lot of chances, and there were a lot of chances where we hit it straight at the keeper, if you put the ball either side then we would have scored more goals.
"I thought we just edged the game, but we just didn't do enough to win it in that second half.
"We led at half-time, and then 30 or 40 seconds after kick-off we have let them back into it and given them momentum. Once they got that momentum, they fully took it and they gave us a good game."
Harriman, who in his day job works at the Cobblers Academy as the club's player care lead, also paid tribute to the Town youngsters.
"This was a big game for Northampton, and let's give them credit," said Harriman.
"They have beaten Daventry, beaten Kettering and now they have beaten us so they deserve to be where they are at.
"They had a never-say-die attitude, they went 1-0 down and 2-1 down but they kept fighting, carried on doing what they are good at and they got their rewards for it.
"We started really well, and could have been out of sight, but we didn't take our chances and got punished for it.
"We now don't have a cup final to look forward to, that's gone now, so it is a tough job as we have eight games of the season left and it is about how we motivate this squad all the way to the end."
The first of those eight games comes this Saturday when 12th-placed Diamonds host Racing Club Warwick.
Last Saturday, Rushden were on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat at Coleshill Town.