We dip into the football clichés book once again this week as it was “after the lord mayor’s show” at Sixfields with Colchester taking home all three points after converting two of their only few chances of the afternoon.
The same side that won at the death so heroically on Tuesday night against Leeds started this tussle with the slightly less glamorous U’s. But there seemed to be a real difference in energy levels with the visitors smelling the scent of the Cobblers’ fear of not living up to living up Tuesday’s billing.
Rather than being buoyed by the last gasp win over Leeds, Stuart Gray’s men were hesitant and it took until Colchester had gained a quick fire double goal to spark both the crowd and the team into life. Chances were few and far between for either side in the early exchanges with Ryan Gilligan sent clear only to pass it to Leon Constantine when Gilligan himself was in a better position. Constantine dragged his shot wide and that miss was to prove costly.
At the other end, in one of the visitors’ first attacks, a right wing cross was met by the head of former Peterborough man Clive Platt who met the ball with a free header to score the opening goal of the game. You would think that lessons would have been learned by a Cobblers defence led by the experienced Andy Todd. But just a few minutes later it was 2-0 as a corner came in from the same right hand side and once again we were caught napping.
This time it was former Cobblers man Paul Reid who rose the highest to nod home the corner and the small band of travelling support were sent into dream land as they took a vital 2-0 lead to set their season off and running at long last.
The half-time score could well have been a lot different had Scott McGleish connected better with a left wing cross late in the half. Good work from Danny Jackman set the former Colchester man up for a seemingly free shot at goal but he somehow hammered the shot wide and you began to think that this may not be our day.
There was immediate action by Stuart Gray at the break with Luke Guttridge replaced by Leeds hero Nicholas Bignall as we moved into a more attacking outlook with four men up front at times. It didn’t take long to find a way back into the game and when Danny Jackman’s free kick took a wicked deflection with ten minutes of the half played it looked like we would have a chance after all and this game wasn’t going to fade into a distant memory.
McGleish was guilty of another great chance just after our goal, similar to his first and by his standard he could well have had two goals to completely turn this game around either side of half-time. A stubborn Colchester defence held firm as waves of Cobblers attacks turned into calmer waters as time went on.
Ian Henderson was sent on to try and lift the spirit but his introduction did little to give hope, after all we’re still waiting for his first senior goal in a Cobblers shirt. Bignall flashed a shot into the arms of the keeper before a scramble in the goal mouth nearly saw Henderson nip in for that illusive strike but the ball was then sent back towards the Cobblers end and the travelling support were jubilant as four minutes of injury time passed with nothing more to add to the score.
The Cobblers trudged off having surrendered a chance to move back into the top half of the table but there’s certainly been worse performances at Sixfields this season. Those expecting a repeat of Leeds would quite rightly have been disappointed but they really shouldn’t have been setting sights so high in the first place, especially with the Cobblers how we are.
The moaners of Sixfields go on and they will have all the tonic they need to slate the side once again despite the decent enough league position of thirteenth. Don’t think that’s a good position to be in? Ask anyone in the bottom four where they’d rather be right now. Ask Bournemouth, Rotherham and Luton who very nearly didn’t have teams to watch at the start of the season. Then come back and moan that we’re not playing like world beaters every week. We’re still Northampton Town, we’re still in business and we’re still an established League One side in business and with a sensible man in charge. Yes, today was an off day, we’ll be back next week to try again and all we really should be doing is getting behind those player who pull on the claret shirt.
So unlucky lads, and well done to Colchester who played their part with a hard working performance to take home a stubborn win. Paul Lambert will turn things around with his know how and don’t be surprised to see the U’s around the top half and playoff places come the end of the season.
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