The Cobblers produced a solid battling display at Brisbane Road to move within touching distance of League One safety.
It seems engineering works have been taking place between Southampton and London for the last six months so I expected my latest train delays on my way up to the capital, heading out early to avoid a mad dash to Brisbane Road. Having just about made the 9:30 train from Southampton, I relaxed into the journey, trying to take in and recover from two nights out in a row (I know I’m getting old when going out on successive nights is a big thing!).
I arrived in London early despite the delays so took in some of the street entertainment on offer along the bank of the Thames near Waterloo station. Included in the performers were magicians, buskers, a street dancer who couldn’t work his CD player and far too many of those weird statue people who paint themselves in gold and only move if you drop money into their bucket. Tempting as it was to stay there all day and try to make them flinch, there was a game to go to and yet more detours ahead on the tube so I began the journey across London.
Arriving at 2:30, I found the usual crew from Sixfields Boys (www.sixfieldsboys.org.uk) already seated and Graham once again trying to take paparazzi style photos as I approached.
Brisbane Road is in the middle of a major transition and since our last visit in early 2006 the building work has begun on the North Stand of the ground. The Cobblers fans were as ever situated in the more run down stand with wooden seats but the atmosphere seemed a lot louder in our stand. I’m sure eventually work will begin on this stand as well but it will certainly take away some of the atmosphere when they do.
On the pitch, Kenny Deuchar and Jordan Robertson dropped to the bench to give Andy Kirk and Simon Cox the chance to state their case for a regular start. Cox did his cause no harm at all as he gave the Cobblers the lead on twelve minutes. Bradley Johnson’s chipped through ball was met by a brilliantly met volley from the Reading loan man that arrowed past O’s keeper Glyn Garner.
The Cobblers seemed happy to try and play the ball over the top of the Orient defence in order to break through and Cox always looked a danger going forward.
Mark Bunn wasn’t being worked an awful lot as the outstanding Mark Hughes marshalled the defensive line solidly once again. The first real effort of note for Orient was held well by Bunn, a long-range effort from Gary Alexandra. The home side were being reduced to long-rangers throughout the first half and the Cobblers were dealing with the threat well and breaking away when possible.
One of these breaks provided us with the second goal. Good work from Kirk and Cox ended with a scrambled goal at the far post from Jason Crowe just past the half hour.
A lengthy injury to an Orient player meant five minutes of stoppage time at the end of the first half and on the whistle, boos rang out from the home fans.
Martin Ling made a change at half time, bringing on a third striker in Jado Ibehre coming on to replace Aiden Palmer.
On the hour mark, Ryan Gilligan found space on the left and his cross shot looked like it was going right into the top corner but agonisingly swerved at the last second to keep the lead at two goals. Kenny Deuchar replaced Andy Kirk and Jordan Robertson took over from goal scorer Cox as the Cobblers kept things fresh through the second half. Ryan Jarvis rattled Bunn’s crossbar mid-way through the second half but that would be the closest the home side would come to reducing the deficit.
Kenny Deuchar could have added to the lead twice, firstly latching onto a long ball forward from Bunn and heading a good flicked effort towards goal that Garner did well to get to and then stabbing a close range effort towards goal late on.
Last season there were seven minutes of injury time at Brisbane Road with us 2-0 up before Orient scared us witless with a late goal but even with this seasons’ six minutes of time added on they didn’t look like scoring at all, handing us a massive three points in the bid for safety.
Mark Hughes was superb at the back and is going to be a massive part of the team we build for next season. Simon Cox did very well up front and will be pushing for a start tomorrow against Scunthorpe while Bradley Johnson again looked dangerous going forward.
The Cobblers now lie in 16th place in League One, eight points clear of the drop zone with fifteen points to play for. I would say that we’re one win away from guaranteeing our place in League One for another season but next up are top club Scunthorpe tomorrow afternoon as the season begins to reach its conclusion.
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