The 3-2 loss at the Lamex was certainly not one for the faint-hearted and it was jam packed with incident, even if the quality was generally cancelled out by two well-matched squads.

It drops Boro down to second but while there was an overall thumbs down for the team perofrmance - too many errors - how did the relative individuals do?

This is how I saw the Stevenage players.

Stevenage 2 Northampton Town 3 - Boro ratings

Taye Ashby-Hammond - 6

Beaten three times although didn't really have a chance with any of them, all the problems happened in front of him. Collected a few crosses adn looked his usual self for the rest of the game.

Carl Piergianni - 6

Not his finest game but it was his header that helped bring about the second equaliser. He will be a key player to snap Boro immediately out of this. 

Dan Sweeney - 6

Missed two glorious headers, one in each half, and should have scored with at least one of them, if not both. Didn't hit the target with either which was surprising as it was disappointing. 

Jake Taylor - 6

Brought in to do the Jordan Roberts role and although he is a good player, he doesn't have that same tackling mentality. A few lovely touches though, including the one for the goal that wasn't from Jamie Reid.

Kane Smith - 5

Was given his chance but it was from his side that the final two Cobblers goals came. At the other end most of his crosses failed to find a team-mate.

Terence Vancooten - 8

Considering how the opening 22 seconds went for him, this was an impressive performance. Gave away the penalty and bar one nervy moment minutes later, barely put a foot wrong.

Alex Gilbey - 6

Anonymous in the first-half but was miproved after the break. Thought he was going to be hero with his equaliser but no.

Michael Bostwick - 5

Spotted one no-nonsense tackle in the first half which made me smile but was too slow to respond to the ball forward for the second. Was in there for a reason but never came off for him.

Jamie Reid - 6

Another who was anonymous in the first half, he should have scored at the beginning of the second and arguably did before the linesman interjected. That was a fine finish and proves what he is capable of but concistency is not his friend at the minute.

Saxon Earley - 5

Hauled off five minutes into the second half and that summed up a hugely disappointing afternoon for the youngster who was caught in the headlights a little bit. Needs to use this as a very valuable lesson.

Danny Rose - 7

His goal was all of his own making and superbly taken but he ran a relatively unrewarded furrough up front for the rest of the game. Still one of the better players though.

Substitutes - 6

Mostly for the contribution of Max Clark who put in some really teasing crosses although he did allow McWilliams in for the winner. David Amoo's introduction was too late to do any damage while Luke Norris was denied a sight of goal by a last-gasp deflection by a defender.

Opposition players who caught the eye

Mitch Pinnock is always one who looks a quality player and it was no different here. Match-winner Shaun McWilliams keeps Northampton ticking over as well.

Summary

Considering the opening 28 minutes, it says something that Boro could quite easily have gained at least a point.

They defended well for the most part too but there were aspects of all three goals conceded that could have been avoided.

They know that though and everyone is allowed a bad day.

I'm not expecting anywhere near the same performance at Doncaster on Tuesday.