A FIRST away defeat of the season was certainly not the result Oldham were looking for from their Saturday trip to Northampton but manager Frankie Bunn has now demanded a big response from his beleaguered troops.

The 2-1 loss at the PTS Academy Stadium means the Latics have just one win from their last seven League Two games, slipping to 15th in the table in the process.

The defeat to the Cobblers was particularly frustrating as the hosts played 50 minutes with ten men after Sam Foley’s sending off for catching Christopher Missilou late.

Rob Hunt pulled one back for Oldham when he converted following a goalmouth scramble but they couldn’t find an equaliser and must now regroup ahead of a midweek Checkatrade Trophy game against Everton U21s and a league trip to Stevenage next Saturday.

“Northampton banked in with ten players and they’ve made it difficult but we’ve conceded the first goal again and then a second. We make life tough for ourselves,” mused Bunn.

“They defended well second half and we just couldn’t find an opening. I thought we were positive, loaded the front area, tried to move the ball quickly.

“We sneaked a goal and it looked like we’d get another one but we just ran out of time.

“We’re going to have to bounce back, these lads are fighting and so they should. It’s just another game and it’s a game we’re going to try and win. We’ll refresh from here and go again.”

John-Joe O’Toole poked home to give Northampton a first-half lead before Kevin van Veen slotted in a penalty for 2-0.

No-one within the stadium was able to fathom why a spot-kick had been awarded, although it was apparently for handball, and the manner of that goal frustrated Bunn.

“Any loss is tough to take,” added Bunn, who had his number two Andy Rhodes dismissed by the owner on Friday. “We didn’t have the best preparation but we’ve got to look forward.

“I thought the lads gave everything they’ve got. There was a dubious penalty decision for them and I think we should have had one which was missed. That’s the way it is at the minute, we just need that luck.

“I spoke to the referee and it was obviously ‘no comment’ from him [about the penalty]. I told him ‘you’ll be horrified when you see it’.”