Poul Hubertz earned the Cobblers a point last night as his first goal this year kept us in touch with the rest of the teams vying for a playoff place. Hubertz struck in the second half and we could even have won it late on. But a point it is and that’s now just two defeats in fifteen games for Stuart Gray’s side as we prepare to host top club Swansea on Saturday.
Adebayo Akinfenwa was missing from the squad after he failed to get over a virus so Ian Henderson partnered Poul Hubertz up front. At the back, Stuart Gray switched to a four man defence with the absence of Jason Crowe and Mark Hughes so Liam Dolman came in while stand in captain Joe Burnell and Ryan Gilligan made up a central midfield partnership. Daniel Jones came in for his first start since rejoining the club from Wolves.
The poor pitch at the Memorial Stadium was affecting the game and there were no early chances for either side. On twenty minutes, Ryan Gilligan had the first opportunity but was denied by home goalkeeper Steve Phillips. The ball wasn’t cleared and Ian Henderson followed up and smashed the ball against the crossbar in an agonising near miss for the Cobblers.
Mark Bunn was called into action for the first time on the half hour as he saved a header from Lewis Haldane before former Cobbler Richard Walker fired over the bar as Rovers got a foothold in the game.
But the home side did have the lead just a minute before the break as Sean Rigg found space to beat Bunn from just outside the area to send us into half-time a goal down.
With the Cobblers playing with the wind in the second half we pressed Rovers back and grabbed a vital equaliser with ten minutes of the half played. Danny Jackman’s corner was cleared before Ryan Gilligan put the ball back over and Poul Hubertz slotted the ball home.
Giles Coke and Colin Larkin came off the bench to replace Ian Henderson and Ryan Gilligan while Rovers replaced Richard Walker and Lewis Haldane with Rickie Lambert and Joe Jacobson.
Hubertz had a chance to put us in front with a header from a Daniel Jones cross and then Coke forced Phillips into a good save. In stoppage time, we had a penalty appeal turned down as Mark Little seemed to be pulled down in the area but there was nothing given by referee Ray Lee and the points were shared.
Next up are leaders Swansea at home on Saturday at the start of a run of games that sees us play three of the top four and our destiny will be a lot clearer after this run of tough games. But for now, we’re four points off the playoffs and in 12th place in the table going into an exciting period of the season for the club.
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