Despair, gloom and utter desperation. Just three of the many adjectives I can use for last night’s performance as the Cobblers sunk into League One’s bottom four as Yeovil snatched a late goal to win the game and send a small band of our fans home utterly dejected.
Before the game, Stuart Gray was already talking about the importance of not losing the game rather than actually winning it, heaven forbid! That message drummed into the players before kick off certainly wouldn’t have helped the cause and the team that emerged on a chilly but calm evening in Somerset responded in nervous fashion.
Danny Jackman tried his best in the pre-match ambling about of the players to get his team mates fired up. Clearly his words fell on deaf ears and the little man would be the only outfield player worthy of wearing the Cobblers’ colours on an evening to forget.
Unorganised defending from some early corners had the claret faithful, hidden away in the corner of the home end thanks to the terrace being shut with low numbers travelling, looking for their nails to bite already.
We failed to ever get going in the first half with Bayo heading over and a couple of nearly chances with through balls not reaching their targets. Giles Coke, once the first name on a team sheet when fit, and Abdul Osman brought no presence to the midfield and it said it all with Jackman, a foot small than them, had more about him than both of those two together.
The poor first half was summed up in stoppage time when Osman scuffed a shot miles wide and a collective groan went up from the Cobblers fans. So at the break, there were no signs of hope with flair players like Liam Davis being kept very quiet.
The second half began with the Cobblers finally finding an attacking foot. Scott Vernon, more creative than the unusually quiet Akinfenwa had a chance to put us in front but has his effort save easily by the home keeper. Jackman had a chance of his own shortly afterwards when he wriggled free past a couple of challenges and shot just over with his weaker right foot.
Time was beginning to run out, desperation was kicking in. The Cobblers support wanted a win, not the aforementioned draw. Yeovil brought on Luke Rodgers, a summer target for Gray. We all wrote the script in our head…Rodgers would score the winner. As it turned out, he didn’t but he did play a major part in the winning goal, setting up Jon Obika for his second goal in as many games, a finish low past the unfortunate Dunn, who had done well for the rest of the game.
Dunn had to be on top form to stop Rodgers adding to the tally as we threw on three forwards and promoted Osman to the attack. With a couple of minutes to go, Akinfenwa flicked on a Jackman free kick and the ball rattled the post. How that stayed out was anyone’s guess but when we won a free kick in stoppage time in the same position, there was more reason for heads in hands.
Jackman swung the ball in from the right and Jason Crowe sent in a powerful header that somehow the keeper stopped on the goal line. That was the last effort and the final nail in the coffin of a truly awful game of football. Both sides were shocking, Yeovil slightly less bad than us.
Where we go from now is a question that someone needs to answer, and quickly. We’re in the bottom four now with no game this weekend, meaning that we could be as far as four points from safety when we go to Bristol Rovers on Good Friday. If some players don’t start caring as much as the loyal support we’ll have no chance of staying in League One and that will be just the start of our worries.
I said after the Peterborough defeat that if we put that much passion into every game we would be fine. Unfortunately, we’re not doing that and what comes next could be a living nightmare as the trap door begins to open.
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