ACCRINGTON boss John Coleman felt Joe Pritchard’s red card was harsh in his side’s goalless draw with Northampton.

Pritchard saw red in the 85th minute for two bookable offences, with Coleman feeling the first a quarter of an hour earlier was particularly hard on the midfielder.

He said: “Joe didn’t know where their guy was for the first challenge but two bookings, I have no problem with that.

“There were a few decisions. I felt we should have had a penalty and I can’t remember the last time we had a penalty even though we have had five or six shouts recently.”

Northampton had the better chances and midfielder Jack Sowerby forced a strong save from Nathan Baxter in the first half while the Stanley loan keeper also had to finger-tip over a Peter Kioso header.

Colby Bishop fired narrowly wide for Stanley after the break as the Reds, after hitting six against Bristol Rovers in midweek, drew a blank.

The closest Northampton came in the second half was Sowerby’s goalbound strike after 80 minutes which took a deflection, Pritchard then dismissed shortly after.

It all left Coleman largely satisfied with a point.

“Northampton are no mugs and they came here with a game plan and they caused us problems in the first half,” he said.

“The pitch didn’t help with the rain but that’s not an excuse. Both teams had a good go and both managers came off the pitch pleased with the endeavour and a draw was a fair result.

“I cannot complain about the result and, come the end of the season, that could be a good point.

“It’s a clean sheet, it’s another point on the board and we just have to keep going. We have to make sure we have enough points to be clear of relegation and then we can look towards the play-offs.”