Boss Jon Brady was pleased to see Northampton climb up to second in League Two with a battling point against struggling Scunthorpe, but admitted his side had not been at their best.

Despite being at opposite ends of the table, the Cobblers spent much of the match on the back foot, although they did finish strongly on the back of a double change inside the final quarter and would have won it had substitute Josh Eppiah not seen an effort cleared off the line.

“Scunthorpe are fighting for their lives and they gave their manager everything,” Brady said.

“They played a shape where they flooded the midfield and made it more of a fight and a battle – it became a war of attrition really.

“When we made the subs towards the end we opened them up. I thought getting a bit of freshness on made a hell of a difference.

“It was frustrating that we couldn’t get control of the game. It was too open.

“It was difficult with the way Scunthorpe set their team up, and on a pitch that wasn’t conducive to passing the ball it was more about landing on second balls.

“We had to try to get hold of that midfield battle, and I thought we did that in the second half.

“Once we changed shape we nullified their threat and then later on, we were in the ascendancy.”

Eppiah capitalised on a mistake by the home defence to get in on goal just seconds after his introduction in the 75th minute, only for the Iron’s Ross Millen to get back to slide his shot behind for a corner.

Sam Hoskins saw a cross flash against the bar, and Paul Lewis was not far off target with an effort that bounced wide in stoppage time as the Cobblers upped the tempo, but the dogged Iron were deserving of a point.

“We’re a team in progress and it’s difficult to summarise that when you’re 30 league games in,” Iron manager Keith Hill said.

“You could see the collective effort and endeavour and we tried to play football, but overall I’m pleased with a clean sheet, and that we sustained a performance for 90 minutes.

“There was a suggestion when we got beat on Saturday (a 2-1 loss to Rochdale) that there was a lack of effort from the players, but I didn’t see or feel that and I was quite insulted by that.

“The position we’re in is a very difficult one, and it shouldn’t be underestimated the task that the players have to perform on a weekly basis.

“Northampton have gone second in the league tonight. There didn’t seem to be a difference between the two sides, but unfortunately we all know there is.

“We’ve got to turn the league table on its head over the next 13 games and performances like that give us encouragement.”