Adebayo Akinfenwa scored on his first full Cobblers appearance as The Cobblers battled back to earn a hard fought draw at Swindon. Akinfenwa, a second half substitute, has been battling to get fit since joining the club a couple of weeks ago and nodded the ball home late on to give us a share of the spoils.
It was bitterly cold heading out of Southampton on Saturday lunch time and it was a welcome relief to only have a couple of hours each way on my journey this time following my last away game up at Leeds which took ten hours in total travelling! The County Ground was walkable from the station and I arrived in good time for a couple of pre match beverages.
The Cobblers lined up without Giles Coke who picked up an injury in training on Friday so Andy Holt came into the side. New Swindon signing Simon Cox couldn’t play any part because the paperwork from the football league didn’t go through in time but he was still paraded around before kick off, to the slight annoyance of the strong following from Northampton!
Ryan Gilligan had the first chance of the game in the first couple of minutes as he latched onto a ball in from Holt and struck a good effort towards goal but the ball was parried away by home keeper Peter Brezovan.
Swindon’s best chance of the half came when Moses Ashikodi shrugged off Mark Hughes’ challenge down the left hand side and set up Blair Sturrock but the substitute, having come on early for the injured Barry Corr, blasted the ball over the bar.
But that was that for a pretty poor first half as the poor pitch conditions led to a stop-start game, not helped by the shocking referee, Mr Bratt and his two assistants. The Cobblers had certainly held their own though and looked the better side going forward.
It was the home side, though, who took the lead after about ten minutes of the second half in the softest possible manner. A long throw was met at the near post by Sturrock who poked the ball past Mark Bunn to send them a goal up.
The game sprang to life as the Cobblers desperately searched for the equaliser and Jonathon Hayes fired over with a right-footed shot before Adeybayo Akinfenwa came off the bench in place of Andy Holt to make his first appearance for the club.
Swindon looked like they were going to double their lead with twenty minutes to go but Mark Little made an outstanding block from Lee Peacock when it looked all the way like it was going to be game over. Brett Johnson then had a header cleared off the line from a corner.
But the Cobblers would get their equaliser with three minutes to go as Akinfenwa rose to meet a Danny Jackman corner and headed the ball home. In a frantic finale, both sides threw everything forward in search of a winner and Hayes blasted over at the far post but the game finally ended in a draw.
It was an overall battling display from the Cobblers and the never say die attitude shone through to claw ourselves back from a goal down in one of the more tricky away fixtures of the season. The result leaves us in eleventh place in the table and still a healthy nine points clear of the drop zone. We’re now, in fact, closer to the playoffs with seven points separating ourselves and Tranmere!
It was bitterly cold heading out of Southampton on Saturday lunch time and it was a welcome relief to only have a couple of hours each way on my journey this time following my last away game up at Leeds which took ten hours in total travelling! The County Ground was walkable from the station and I arrived in good time for a couple of pre match beverages.
The Cobblers lined up without Giles Coke who picked up an injury in training on Friday so Andy Holt came into the side. New Swindon signing Simon Cox couldn’t play any part because the paperwork from the football league didn’t go through in time but he was still paraded around before kick off, to the slight annoyance of the strong following from Northampton!
Ryan Gilligan had the first chance of the game in the first couple of minutes as he latched onto a ball in from Holt and struck a good effort towards goal but the ball was parried away by home keeper Peter Brezovan.
Swindon’s best chance of the half came when Moses Ashikodi shrugged off Mark Hughes’ challenge down the left hand side and set up Blair Sturrock but the substitute, having come on early for the injured Barry Corr, blasted the ball over the bar.
But that was that for a pretty poor first half as the poor pitch conditions led to a stop-start game, not helped by the shocking referee, Mr Bratt and his two assistants. The Cobblers had certainly held their own though and looked the better side going forward.
It was the home side, though, who took the lead after about ten minutes of the second half in the softest possible manner. A long throw was met at the near post by Sturrock who poked the ball past Mark Bunn to send them a goal up.
The game sprang to life as the Cobblers desperately searched for the equaliser and Jonathon Hayes fired over with a right-footed shot before Adeybayo Akinfenwa came off the bench in place of Andy Holt to make his first appearance for the club.
Swindon looked like they were going to double their lead with twenty minutes to go but Mark Little made an outstanding block from Lee Peacock when it looked all the way like it was going to be game over. Brett Johnson then had a header cleared off the line from a corner.
But the Cobblers would get their equaliser with three minutes to go as Akinfenwa rose to meet a Danny Jackman corner and headed the ball home. In a frantic finale, both sides threw everything forward in search of a winner and Hayes blasted over at the far post but the game finally ended in a draw.
It was an overall battling display from the Cobblers and the never say die attitude shone through to claw ourselves back from a goal down in one of the more tricky away fixtures of the season. The result leaves us in eleventh place in the table and still a healthy nine points clear of the drop zone. We’re now, in fact, closer to the playoffs with seven points separating ourselves and Tranmere!
No comments:
Post a Comment