Northampton Town boss Rob Page has said that Manchester United's bench in their EFL Cup tie was the strongest he has seen in his career.

Page was reflecting on his side's 3-1 defeat to the Red Devils in the third round of the competition when the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marcus Rashford and Marouane Fellaini all came on as second-half subs to help Jose Mourinho's Red Devils through to the next stage of the league cup.

"The effort of the players was outstanding but I'm disappointed with the goals we gave away," he told ntfc.co.uk.

"We knew United would have a lot of possession but they didn't have to work hard for their goals and I thought we had a hand in all three.

"We got ourselves back into the game with the penalty but then in the second half we gave two silly goals away.

"Their bench was probably the strongest I've ever seen in my career and it's huge respect to our team that they felt the need to bring those players on.

"I can't complain about the effort from my players but when you give goals away like we did there is only going to be one outcome."

Alex Revell equalised for the Cobblers late in the first half following Michael Carrick's brilliant opener but Ander Herrera and Rashford were on target late as United flexed their muscle.