Cheltenham Town 1-0 Northampton Town
League Two
Saturday, October 9th 2010
Controversial moments, a red card, a disallowed goal and a 1-0 defeat. Not what the doctor ordered at Whaddon Road this afternoon as the Cobblers fell to a third straight defeat that leaves us staring at the league table through our fingers this evening.
Dean Beckwith’s return to the squad didn’t last long at all and an already jumbled up starting eleven was even more pottered with when the former Hereford man was sent off on twenty two minutes. Beckwith apparently stamped on Shaun Jeffers in a scramble with the Cobblers defender saying afterwards that he simply couldn’t get out of the way. This was after a strong start from Sammo’s men, a start that had Kevin Thornton cursing his luck with a shot that flew just wide and a free kick that was saved by Scott Brown after hitting Billy McKay.
The game was turned on its head following the sending off though and the home side came to life. Jeff Goulding forced Chris Dunn into a good save before the break. But Goulding would be involved in the winner with his through ball converted by Brian Smikle on the hour mark. It would be a long way back from here and, indeed, we couldn’t fight back despite more controversy.
With three minutes to go, Leon McKenzie headed home but the flag was up and the goal disallowed despite the Town striker appearing a yard or so onside and Cheltenham escaped with the victory.
The fact that this defeat means that we’re hovering just one place above the drop zone is a massive worry ahead of bottom club Hereford’s visit next weekend. We can have all the controversy we want but the simple fact is that we’re not winning football games and the longer this streak goes on the more concerning we’ll all be about being involved in a relegation dog fight rather than pursuing matters at the other end of the table.
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