Sinking feeling again in Yorkshire

Bradford City 2-0 Northampton Town
League Two
Saturday, 4th May 2010

If the Cobblers are picked to play in Yorkshire in the final away game of next season I think we should all just boycott it. Exactly a year on from the devastation of Leeds and relegation came this 2-0 defeat that could well be the final nail in our coffin in terms of playoff hopes. Nothing short of a miracle will do us now and once again we’ve got the worst luck at the worst time.

All was going ok on Saturday with the Cobblers evenly matching their hosts until the twelfth minute when Gareth Evans decided to strike a hammer blow to our chances of the top seven with an unstoppable volley. Other playoff rivals were blowing hot and cold and a goal for the Cobblers could well have given us fresh impotence in the race for the end of season lottery.

As it was, the next big incident in the game saw us reduced to ten men when Peter Gilbert played too short a pass to Dean Beckwith and the central defender hauled down Leon Osborne. Referee Mr Crossley, another bad omen for the day, sent Beckwith off and the uphill struggle turn into a mountain of a task for the rest of the afternoon.

Still, Billy McKay should have scored with a gaping goal late in the first half but could only find the post. That was to be a massive point in the game.

Sammo threw on Steve Guinan, Courtney Herbert and Kevin Thornton with fifteen minutes to go to try and galvanise an equaliser that could have made next weekend a little bit nicer a task but it was Bradford who struck the killer blow on the counter attack – Evan getting his second of the game to seal the win.

This leaves us needing a miraculous final day of the season with four teams between the Cobblers and 7th heaven, the final playoff place. We need ALL of the following to happen:

- Cobblers to beat Bury
- Dagenham to lose to bottom club Darlington
- Port Vale to draw or lose at home to Shrewsbury
- Chesterfield to draw or lose at home to Bournemouth

So it is going to take one hell of a final day for the Cobblers to reach the playoffs now but either way it would be nice to end this season with a win that would secure a top ten finish at the very least – something that Sammo and Malc deserve. Whatever happens, I hope you’ll join me in giving the lads a good send off and whatever league we’re in next season we know we’ll be back.

Now, I’m just off to look for that flying pig…up The Cobblers!