Although being in with a shot at making the play-offs would have been seen as huge progress at the turn of the year, the Cobblers superb run of form up to Easter made a top-seven finish within their own grasp and even had some talking of automatic promotion.
One win from the final seven league games however put paid to those dreams and eventually saw Northampton finish 11th.
"The season as a whole has been a disappointment. Once we got in to the play-offs we just couldn't cement our place there," said Sampson, who was well aware of the impact his missing top goalscorer could have made.
"With six games to go we hit a dip in form. We obviously missed (Bayo) Akinfenwa for the three big games against Notts County, Rotherham and Rochdale."
Will the Cobblers have to get used to being without their 17-goal striker? His comments in the wake of the final game of the season hint that that may be the case.
Akinfenwa told BBC Radio Northampton: "Every player will tell you they want to play as high as possible. That has to be in my thoughts for next season.
"But I enjoy it here, I've got love for Northampton and it's the longest I've ever been at one club, so we'll see."