A late midweek review this week as we come off the back of four useful points at tricky away games. A Bayo double gave us an unlikely looking win at The Bescot before Hoobs salvaged a point in Bristol last night. Four points off the playoffs and there’s still everything to play for…
I’m guessing when most Town fans said they would take four points from these two away days the order in which we gathered those points would have been most likely to be three at Bristol and one at Walsall. So when Bayo sealed a superb win at the Bescot it would have surprised even the most diehard of Cobblers.
It’s six goals in six games for the big man now since joining a couple of months ago and his presence has been a major factor in the climb up the table. He took his goals very well at The Bescot, particularly the first, a lob over a stranded home goalkeeper. Bayo’s becoming a iconic figure already at Sixfields and if kept fit for the remainder of the season could be the lethal weapon that gets us closer to the playoffs.
By all account the overall performance was solid in the 2-0 win and Tommy Mooney even failed to bag his customary goal against us as Bunny came to the rescue on more than one occasion once again.
So that took us to midweek and a clash with Bristol “I smell Gas” Rovers. After flicking through Ceefax on Tuesday night as the others in our league played out their games it turned out that a win would take us to within a couple of points of the top six. Leeds lost out to Cheltenham and the Gary McAllister revolution has certainly not taken off just yet as time begins to run out in the season. A late goal for Tranmere at Swansea kept them in touch while wins for Southend and Oldham kept up their push.
But with a depleted squad it was a point in the end that keeps us in touch. Bayo, Crowe and Hughes are part of the backbone of the side right now and to lose all three right away leaves us with little left in reserve and considering the injuries we did a good job to get a point from a side that would have been fired up after the F.A. Cup hammering.
Good to see Hoobs back in the goals, his first of 2008, and hopefully it’ll lift his spirits after a barren run of late. Apparently we should have had a blatant penalty in the last seconds of the game and the decision could end up costing us big time come the final reckoning.
But for now we should all be delighted to be involved in a battle to stay in touch with the playoffs and to be virtually safe with ten games to go is a big achievement, especially with the run of seven games without a win in mid-season that took us close to the other end of the table. Stuart Gray has worked his transfer window magic once again and we’re in a great position going into three games against three of the top four.
These three games could have a massive impact on the season and if we’re still in touch with the top six after these crunch clashes I’ll be delighted! Swansea are first up and after a couple of slip ups in the last week they will be wanting to get right back on track straight away at Sixfields. But on our day we know we can give anyone a game and hopefully Bayo will be back to put his former side to the sword!
Up The Cobblers!
Danny
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