The Cobblers hung on for all three points and survived a second half revival by Port Vale to seal a third straight home victory. Andy Kirk moved on to eight goals for the season by scoring twice in the first half to sink Vale with David McGoldrick grabbing one back in the second half.
I journeyed up to Northampton on Friday night to have a couple of days away from the south coast and it was nice to wake up on a Saturday morning for a home game with no travelling to do! There’s always debate about whether away days are a better option than home games for entertainment and I would certainly always prefer an away day out over a game at Sixfields.
But there’s something to be said about the traditions of a home game, having a lie in before a cooked breakfast and a couple of drinks before hand in the comfort of your own stadium. This was the first home game this season where I’ve not been travelling on the day itself and it brought back all the goodness of the Saturday home game for me. Another plus is that there’s no chance your warm-up will be disrupted because the team bus is late getting to the ground of course!
Saturday was a nice day for it but Sixfields was a little subdued with only just over 4,000 in attendance, not helped by the small following from Port Vale.
Stuart Gray had big injury problems ahead of the game with Jason Crowe, Andy Holt and Chris Doig all missing with hamstring injuries. This meant a start for Ian Henderson in midfield as Daniel Jones dropped to let back and Danny Jackman to right back in a 4-4-2 formation.
The first real effort of the game came from Brad Johnson who picked the ball up mid way inside the Vale half and struck a left footed effort that took a deflection and rolled away just past the post for a corner. Vale had their first attempt just a couple of minutes later as Justin Miller headed against Mark Bunn’s post but it was the Cobblers who took the lead with 20 minutes gone.
Ian Henderson made a strong run down the right and beat his man before delivering a perfect cross for Andy Kirk to volley home at the near post into the roof of the net.
Vale’s on-loan Southampton forward David McGoldrick tested Bunn at the other end but the Cobblers were in control of the game in the first half and looked the more likely side to score the second goal of the game. This did come on the half hour mark as a superb move down the right hand side involving Jackman and Colin Larkin ended with the latter pulling the ball back across goal for Kirk to tap home his and the Cobblers’ second of the afternoon.
Kirk could easily have had a hat-trick with five minutes of the half to play as a cross came in from the left hand side and the Ulsterman rose to meet the ball with a strong header but Vale keeper Joe Anyon clawed it away to safety.
We looked to be in complete control of the game at half-time but as we know from the Orient and Tranmere fight backs in previous weeks that nothing is that simple with the Cobblers and Vale gave us more than enough worries in the second half.
Brad Johnson began the second half as he started the first by providing our first shot on goal but his left footed effort sailed wide of Anyon’s post. I think if we’d have got the third goal of the game it would have been game over but Port Vale, to their credit, fought their way back into the game.
Ten minutes into the second half, McGoldrick picked up possession on the right hand side and was allowed a free run at goal before he arrowed a shot into the top corner of Bunn’s goal, setting up another tense second half.
Bunn had to be alert just a few minutes after the goal by saving from Shane Tudor before Luke Rodgers, who had been threatening all afternoon, turned well in the area and hammered a shot against the crossbar.
Brett Johnson was brought on to replace Ian Henderson on the left hand side as the Cobblers looked to hold on to what we had. But we did have our chances at the other end, with Poul Hubertz coming closest mid-way through the half. The big Dane turned his man on the edge of the area and hit a stinging left-footed shot that rattled the post and was cleared away by the Vale defence.
We desperately needed a third goal to put the game to bed and the claret faithful were getting edgy as the game wore on. Former Cobbler Marc Richards came off the bench with fifteen minutes to go and provided the last real talking point of the game. With just a couple of minutes left on the clock, there was a scramble in the Town area and the ball broke to Richards, who went down under a challenge inside the box, claiming a penalty. But the referee waved play on and booked Richards for his antics.
After four nervy minutes of stoppage time, the game was over and we had hung on for a good victory and it’s now three Sixfields wins in a row. It wasn’t the most convincing of performances but all that matters is that we’re now closer to the playoff places than we are to the bottom four and if we can just stay away from the pack at the bottom and leave enough of a distance between us, it can set us up for an exciting second half of the season.
It was a positive thing to see Danny Jackman do well at right back following an uncertain performance there at Millwall while Liam Dolman stepped up the plate to fill the void of Chris Doig. With Jason Crowe due back at Luton, with possibly Andy Holt as well we can hopefully challenge for our first away win of the season following some good success at home.
PLAYER RATINGS….
MARK BUNN: No chance with the goal and prevented yet another second half collapse. (7)
DANNY JACKMAN: Acquitted himself well in the unfamiliar right-back slot. (7)
LIAM DOLMAN: Growing with every game and rose to challenge of extra responsibility in the centre of defence. (7)
MARK HUGHES: Won so many challenges and headers to keep Vale out. (7)
DANIEL JONES: Another strong performance at left back. (7)
IAN HENDERSON: Great work for the goal and a threat throughout the game. (8)
BRAD JOHNSON: May need a rest despite a slightly improved performance. (6)
ALEX RUSSELL: Calmed the play down in the middle of the park following Vale’s goal. (7)
COLIN LARKIN: Another strong performance on the right and he’s making the position his own. Good work to set up the second goal. (7)
ANDY KIRK: Worked hard and scored two poachers goals to move on to eight for the season. In the right place at the right time on both occasions. (8)
POUL HUBERTZ: Tired towards the end but so unlucky with the shot that hit the post. (7)
BRETT JOHNSON (SUB): Did well at left-back late on to stop the supply of the dangerous McGoldrick. (6)
RYAN GILLIGAN (SUB): Only on for the dying minutes as we clung on to the points. (6)
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