Two defeats in two home games have dropped the Cobblers back down into the bottom half of the table so it is with perhaps a little relief that the F.A. Cup comes around this weekend to provide a break from the league action.
Saturday’s game against Southend was a massive test but by all accounts it was a decent performance against a side that should be in the promotion mix come the end of the season. The frustrating thing was that Adam Barrett was given time and space to score yet another header at Sixfields after copy cat goals a couple of seasons ago that gave Southend a 2-1 win. The one goal was enough at the weekend and Southend took home the points once again.
Despite the defeat, there were plenty of positive noises coming from the home fans and if Andy Kirk had put his spot kick, our first in ten months, the right side of the post we may have been looking at an entirely different result. It’s just our luck that we wait all this time to get one penalty awarded for us and when it comes around we miss it!
The result wasn’t as disappointing as it could have been as we had put in a positive effort against the Shrimpers but the same couldn’t have been said for Tuesday nights’ dismal performance against Bristol Rovers.
Bristol Rovers had been beaten in their previous six visits to Sixfields and this in itself was a bad omen ahead of the game. Any other team would see that record and think of it as a positive but I defy any Cobblers fan that honestly saw the record and smiled! It’s a part of Cobblers law that any side struggling for form will cause us problems.
So it was kind of inevitable when the goal went in, another header from another Cobblers tormentor of the past Rickie Lambert, and we went down 1-0 once again. The difference in performance was evident in reports from the game and we have to pick ourselves up again for the tough trip to Darlington in the F.A. Cup this weekend.
The game is our final chance at a cup run this season, having gone out in round one of every competition so far but Darlington will be fancying their chances of success on their home ground. Last season we were knocked out by much lesser opponents at the time in Barnet at Underhill and any sort of performance like that will bring disaster at the Reynolds Arena.
But we have to stick behind the players and Stuart Gray as a big test of character comes about on Saturday. It’s a time when performances and results have dropped a little but we know what we’re capable of, know what we can do on our day and we can only get behind the team as we get through a tough patch. Hopefully we’ll be back on form at Darlington and be in the hat for round two!
Up the Cobblers!
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