The Midweek Review returns with a look back on a successful first week of the season for the Cobblers with two wins out of two.
The 2008/09 season started in shaky fashion and as the Cheltenham game approached half time with the Cobblers a goal behind, we were starting to fear the worst. The moaners were just about warming up when Doigy popped up to level the scores just before the break and Sixfields sighed a collected sigh of relief.
After the break it was much a different story and the two penalties gave us the cushion we needed. The first one was a good decision but the second could be seen to be harsh. Bayo and Hughes fought over the spot kicks and Hughes was pretty angry that he lost those battles, but who’s going to argue with Bayo?! Out of all the squad, Hughes is probably one of the only ones daring enough to try.
Cheltenham breathed fresh life into their fight as the referee gave them a penalty, rightfully so against a clear Doig push and the game was momentarily back on as Townend hammed the ball past Bunn. But Bayo unselfishly set up Leon Constantine for a debut goal and from then on it was never in doubt.
Had Constantine not scored he may well have suffered a blow to his confidence even this early in his Cobblers career having missed two or three good chances already in the game. But it’s good to have him off the mark and hopefully that’s the first of many. The partnership between Bayo and Constantine showed early promise and there’s more to come from those two.
It was then on to Millwall in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night and another good win, this time a more ground out result, took us through to Round Two. Bayo got another ninety minutes under his belt in preparation for the trip to the plastics on Saturday while Jason Crowe notched his first goal of the campaign.
By all account we were fairly comfortable barring Millwall hitting the post and forcing Bunn into a fine save. Our reward was a trip to Bolton after the draw was made last night and the game falls into the same category as Middlesbrough away in last seasons’ Second Round. We will go there as underdogs and defeat wouldn’t be frowned at whilst victory gives us the headlines so certainly nothing to lose at the Reebok. It would have been nice to get them at home but the draw meant that we were unseeded and drawn away before it even began!
We now turn our attentions to Milton Keynes on Saturday. A third straight victory and we would threaten to get a little too excited with just a week of the season gone! Defeat, and we would not hear the end of it from the Milton Keynes public, many of whom would have been Cobblers fans ten years ago in the Wembley days.
Giles Coke played 45 minutes on Tuesday and could push for a start while Abdul Osman may play a part as well. It’s a packed competition for midfield places now and that can only be a good thing with just three central place up for grabs.
The Dons await in our first ever meeting then but we all know that the real derby happens in a little under a month from today when the Posh visit Sixfields. One game at a time though and hopefully come 5pm on Saturday we’ll be top of League One! How many times will you be able to say that in the coming months?!
Up The Cobblers!
Danny
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