Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Northampton Town 0-1 West Bromwich Albion

Stuart Gray started with a strong squad against the Premier League new boys but there was still no place for injured Adebayo Akinfenwa. Ryan Gilligan started in midfield with Abdul Osman and trialist Luke Guttridge. Colin Larkin partnered Leon Constantine up front.

Gilligan had the first effort on goal after fifteen minutes with a good strike from distance. The Cobblers continued to press and Mark Hughes went close with a header from a Guttridge corner just a few minutes later.

David Worrell shot over for the visitors before Leon Constantine headed wide but the Cobblers were behind ten minutes before the break. Do-heon Kim lined up a free kick and expertly finished off the inside of Mark Bunn's post from 25 yards.

It was harsh on the Cobblers and we nearly had an equaliser just before the break but Colin Larkin curled a shot just wide in the final action of the half.Colin Larkin nearly brought us level at the start of the second half as we looked for a way back into the game. Substitute Andy Holt did well on the left hand side as his deep cross was headed towards goal by Larkin but stopped on the line by substitute keeper Dean Kiely.

Leon Constantine had a shot deflected just wide before Liam Davis' corner was tipped over by Kiely as we were frustrated again in our search for that illusive goal. We ran out of steam though and it was West Brom who looked the more lively late on with Sherjil Macdonald making a good run and shot in the last real effort on goal.

So in our final friendly we were beaten but made a good account of ourselves against a Premier League outfit. The only worry will now be where the goals are coming from but we have eleven days to now prepare for Cheltenham on August 9th.

No comments: