Fifth home draw of the season as spot kicks are the theme...

Northampton Town 1-1 Port Vale
League Two
Saturday, December 12th 2009

It’s becoming a recurring theme of the score draw at Sixfields as the Cobblers once again failed to take a chance and inevitably came out with just one point against the only side in League Two with an equally poor home record in terms of stalemates. Adebayo Akinfenwa missed one and scored one penalty and the visitors survived almost the entire second half with ten men as another frustrating afternoon ensued at the Cobblers’ home.

Injuries hit Sammo as he tried to shape his team with Andy Holt’s absence being filled in by Paul Rodgers on the left hand side of midfield and Dean Beckwith returning to defence. One real surprise in the starting line up was that of Joe Benjamin who slotted in the midfield foursome after returning from his loan spell with Eastbourne Borough.

Marc Richards, the man who became a one season legend at Sixfields, was always going to be the main threat for the visitors and it was his free kick early on that was the best of the chances as the game got off to a slow chance. It took us around twenty minutes to get into the game with the live wire Courtney Herbert stepping up his recovery from injury as he almost sparked us into life with a good run and curling shot that forced Vale keeper Chris Martin into a good save.

The first half was a tame affair until the final couple of minutes when two penalties woke everyone at Sixfields up. First, Paul Rodgers was brought down and Adebayo Akinfenwa stepped up but saw his spot kick well saved by Martin. Vale, typically, went up the other end and were awarded a penalty of their own when Chris Dunn pulled down an onrushing Louis Dodds and Richards made no mistake to put his side in front. Dunn could be said to be lucky to stay on the pitch, particularly with what happened early in the second half.

Akinfenwa was pulled down by John McCombe and as the last man the Vale man was sent off whereas Dunn was only booked before the break for his offence. Ian Sampson acknowledged after the game that his keeper was fortunate in his offence but either way, Bayo put his spot kick away and the game was all square with the visitors down to ten.

Dunn did well shortly after the goal to claw away a shot from Doug Loft and got to the rebound just before Richards before Gary Mulligan replaced Peter Gilbert in an attacking move by Sammo. Gilligan and Mulligan were both denied by Chris Martin as we tried to find the winner but the Vale keeper again reacted at the speed of sound to keep us out.

Joe Benjamin had the last effort of the game but shot over and it was the fifth home draw in eleven games at Sixfields this season. Vale will be the happier of the sides this evening as they keep in touch with the top half but the Cobblers remain closer to the drop zone than we are to twelfth!

Just two places now separate us from the drop zone in League Two, something unthinkable in the summer, let alone at the start of the calendar year. We’ll be delighted to see the back of 2009...

Cobblers struggling with injuries as Vale come to Town

The Cobblers' cause, in the chase for three vital points tomorrow afternoon at home to Port Vale, has been dented even more with several key injuries hitting the squad this week. Steve Guinan has undergone a double hernia operation and will be missing alongside Craig Hinton, Chris McCready, Luke Guttridge, Andy Holt, Abdul Osman and Liam Davis.

Port Vale have had a stop start season themselves this time out but welcome back Gareth Owen, fully kitted out with face mask to take on the Cobblers. A 2-0 home defeat to in form Morecambe last weekend left manager Mickey Adams fuming and he'll be expecting full effort this time out so we can expect a fired up Vale side.

Both sides need the points at Sixfields and another depleted attendance is expected with Christmas round the corner so the players need to dig deep and grind out a win somehow, someway to warm our cockles as the freeze hits.

Black hole appearing in Leauge Two

There's a worrying gap appearing in the League Two table as the hectic Christmas period approaches. With The Cobblers in eighteenth place, there's four points between ourselves and last week's winners at Sixfields, Hereford United. Standing a place higher on the same points are Port Vale, Saturday's visitors Port Vale.

Defeat this weekend would start to compound the misery hanging around Sixfields at the moment and leave us stranded in the lower reaches of the basement league. Yes, it looks like a middle of the season, low attendance, scrappy mid-table bore fest but the fact is that on a cold Saturday in December we could be about to face a season defining game.

For if the Cobblers fall any further behind even the middle of League Two it could be a long, hard slug back. I said at this point last season that I hoped we wouldn't be dragged into a League One relegation fight but that it didn't seem a plausable option. We have to pray that history doesn't repeat itself because another dog fight, this time even further down the football pyramid, could kill the soul of Northampton Town.

So let's PLEASE get these attendances back up, start singing for us rather than against us and get us those three points that will at least bridge the widening hole that stands above us.

Another Desmond as Bayo rescues Town again

Cheltenham Town 2-2 Northampton Town
League Two
Saturday, December 5th 2009

The Cobblers and Cheltenham Town have both had matching poor first halves of the season after relegation last season and neither side could secure three points at Whaddon Road yesterday in a 2-2 draw that did little for either side’s confidence. Adebayo Akinfenwa rescued his side once again byt twice scoring to pull the game back from the jaws of defeat.

It was an even more experienced head that caused us problems at the other end rather than the clutch of ex-Cobblers on show for the home side but Ben Marshall at least had some impact by setting up the opening goal of the game when his corner was scrambled in eventually by Barry Hayles. Hayles would be a thorn in the side later on but not before the Cobblers immediately replied.

Bayo’s fitness was in question all week (again) but he started alongside Courtney Herbert, making his first start in over a month, and the big striker got on the end of a Danny Swailes flick on to equalise just ninety seconds after the hosts had taken the lead.

Hayles was back on the score sheet on the half hour mark, though, flicking in a corner and it was another far too simple goal to concede for Ian Sampson’s men. This time, it would take a bit longer to find our way back into the game.

Bayo and Billy McKay went close before the break but the leveller soon came after half time when the former made the most of confusion in the home ranks to slot home and bring us back into the game again.

It was all set up for a stirring climax but it never really came as both sides proved as bad as each other at conjouring a final flurry despite the best efforts of Herbert, who drove wide with fifteen minutes to go and substitute Steve Guinan who headed over the bar in the closing stages of the game.

So it’s another draw in this stop-start season so far and yet again we concede sloppy goals. We need to become stronger at the back because at the other end we’re looking alright. Suring up at the back must be job number one for Sammo in a massive January transfer window but until then we must persevere with what we have.

There’s a worrying gap appearing to the clutch of teams in mid-table, one of which, Port Vale, come to Sixfields next weekend. It’s becoming a recurring theme but it’s another massive home game because defeat could leave us confounded in the doom of the lower reaches of League Two before Santa has even began to get ready for his annual work.

Away day comes at the right time

It's with a bit of a relief for the players that they get away from the pressures of a home game at Sixfields with this afternoon's visit to Cheltenham. Even the paltry attendance on Tuesday night were able to voice their discontent and from what I hear it was deserved after a shocking display.

Today, though, we go to Whaddon Road looking to just get three points from any avenue possible. It used to be an unhappy stomping ground over there but we've picked up two wins and a draw from our last two visits with Jason Crowe netting the winner last season.

The Robins are in a similar position to us following relegation and both sides' frustrations could lead to a decent game this afternoon. We can only pray that we finally get a bit of luck in front of goal at the right end this time after a couple of weeks of controversy at the wrong end!

And there goes Walker...

So injury has now put pay to Josh Walker's time at Sixfields after the midfielder suffered a dislocated shoulder during Tuesday night's defeat to Hereford United at Sixfields.

Walker has been sent back to parent club Middlesbrough and could be out for the rest of season.

Meanwhile, Ian Sampson has confirmed that Adebayo Akinfenwa and Steve Guinan are both struggling for fitness ahead of Saturday's trip to Cheltenham, Courtney Herbert played the final fifteen minutes on Tuesday and could feature again at Whaddon Road.

Cobblers well beaten despite early goal

Northampton Town 1-3 Hereford United
Tuesday, December 1st 2009
League Two


The chill is setting in, the dark nights are here and the Cobblers are in for, seemingly, a long hard winter of discontent. Another defeat last night, this time to a Hereford side that won with far too much ease, pushed us closer to the bottom than we are to the top seven and things are looking more worrying than they have for a long, long time.

The blame can’t 100% fall on the players and staff...the sacking of Stuart Gray was untimely and the act of faith shown by David Cardoza at the end of last season and beginning of this is threatening to blow the whole of 09/10 apart. The players that survived the August transfer window simply aren’t good enough, and at League Two level they really should be.

Even the return to the bench of Courtney Herbert here couldn’t spark a win despite Ryan Gilligan giving us a lead inside forty seconds, converting Adebayo Akinfenwa’s cross to hand us the perfect start and at least it wouldn’t be a game of catch up from the start. It would, though, have the opposite effect and we never peaked after the early show.

The disaster started when Josh Walker was stretchered off the pitch after just ten minutes and Hereford added insult to that injury by equalising through Darren Jones as we failed to clear a corner. Craig Hinton and Andy Holt had the best chances of the first half after that but we were level at half time with Danny Swailes, making his debut after joining on loan from MK Dons last week, booked on the half hour mark.

Steve Guinan thought he had put us back in front early in the second half but his disallowed goal was as good as it got for Sammo’s men. It was another set piece that caused us problems for the second goal as Jordan Mutch fired in a free kick that Chris Dunn could only parry into the path of Mathieu Manset who nodded home from close range.

Herbert made his long awaited return with fifteen minutes to go but even he couldn’t rescue this game as the visitors wrapped it up when Craig King connected with the ball at the far post to knock it in and it was game over.

It was a deserved victory for Hereford who climb up into mid-table, leaving the Cobblers still struggling at the wrong end of things with the likes of Saturday’s opposition, Cheltenham Town, who have similar problems to us.

It could come down to who wants it the most at Whaddon Road. The quality is not appearing to be here at the moment so this is when we need to find out who the real characters in the dressing room really are.

It’s getting desperate. Please Cobblers, fight for your shirts!

Saints gun us down once more...

Northampton Town 2-3 Southampton
F.A. Cup Second Round
Saturday, November 28th 2009

So The Cobblers’ interest in the FA Cup is ended by Southampton as the Saints complete a cup double matching that of season 2004/05 where they again beat us twice in the main competitions of English football. In some ways we were looking back on that season and thinking that we had a better chance against the then Premier League outfit that were struggling at the time than against an in form League One side but the score line was at least closer than the previous three meetings between the sides. I headed back into work this morning knowing that at least we hadn’t been mullered as predicted by some colleagues going into the weekend as Ryan Gilligan’s late penalty gave us a bit of gloss to top off the game with.

If early chances had been converted it could have been a much, much different game but if you don’t take chances against teams like this you will always be punished and two sucker punch free headers at the end of the first half were the difference and really put the boot into forty minutes of real hard work and determination from Ian Sampson’s side.

Adebayo Akinfenwa could have had us in front in the opening minute with a low shot that beat the visiting keeper all ends up but smacked against the post. It was the sort of tempo we needed to begin the game with and Pt Kanyuka’s header that flashed wide from the resulting corner gave us hope of an early upset.


Southampton soon settled though and made a game of it, forcing Chris Dunn into two fine saves on the quarter hour mark. Dean Hammond was the man to come close on both occasions but Dunn was equal to both his close range header and long range curling effort.

Controversy reared it’s ugly head again mind way through the half when Steve Guinan appeared to be shoved in the back when rising for a header but there was nothing given by either the referee or linesman, the latter being just inches from the action. After Tuesday night’s misfortune at the other end it was another bitter pill to swallow for Town fans.

Loan man Josh Walker curled a free kick to within a lick of paint of the post before Andy Holt headed over from a Peter Gilbert corner. It was inevitable that soon those missed chances would be punished and so it came to pass that two simple headers turned the momentum back to the Saints just before the break.

First, Rickie Lambert crossed for Papa Waigo to nod in before seconds later Adam Lallana, again a thorn in our side and looking one of the brighter Southampton players, headed a second. We were shell shocked and needed the half time whistle, which duly came shortly after.

We had to score the next goal if we were to stand any chance and Kanyuka had a header cleared off the line in the early stages of the half. But we couldn’t build on that and the game was over as a contest on the hour mark as a third header, from Hammond this time, crept over the line despite all the efforts from Chris Dunn. It looked a close one but from my view the ball did cross the line and the linesman, so blinded in the first half for the penalty shout, had his eagle eyes out to spot that one.

There was similar goings on with twenty minutes to play at the other end and as Dean Hammonds put the ball into his own net we didn’t seem to know whether it had crossed the line or not. Hence the strange celebrations inside the two home ends (Saints had sold their allocation for both the East and South stands) as we weren’t quite sure what was going on!

There wasn’t time for a revival though and we looked a spent force with Southampton never really coming out of first gear. The late penalty to make it 3-2 from Gilligan raised little cheer as we knew that the three minutes of stoppage time were well up by the time he slotted the ball home.

So we’re out of all cups before Christmas again and we really do have more emphasis on Tuesday night’s visit from Hereford United in the league now. It’s the return of a certain L. Constantine to Sixfields and we all know what’s likely to happen after the striker manager just two goals all season for us last term!

Who knows, this could be a lucky omen...in 2005 we went on to make the League Two playoffs after going out of both cups to Southampton. Then again, in 2005 we had the likes of Luke Chambers, Martin Smith, Marc Richards and Eric Sabin...this lot have a long way to go if they’re to match those men...