Northampton Town v Aldershot Town
NPOWER LEAGUE 2
Saturday December 22nd
Sixfields
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 2
Jake Robinson 49
Clive Platt 90
ALDERSHOT TOWN 0
Attendance: 4,574 (218 away fans)
Cobblers: Lee Nicholls, Ben Tozer, Kelvin Langmead, Clarke Carlisle, Anthony Charles, Emyr Huws, Ben Harding, Lewis Hornby, Chris Hackett, Ishmel Demontagnac (sub Jake Robinson 46), Clive Platt
Subs not used: Dean Snedker, Danny East, Louis Moult, Henoc Mukendi, Claudio Dias, David Moyo
Aldershot: Jamie Young, Aaron Morris, Danny Hylton, Rob Sinclair, Doug Berqvist, Craig Reid (sub Adam Mekki 79), Sonny Bradley, Kieron Cardogan (sub Jordan Roberts 90), Daniel Rose, Dani Lopez, Michael Hector
Subs not used: Guy Madjo, Glenn Morris, Bobby Webbe, Matt Rudolph, Adam Brice
Referee: Mr Tim Robinson
Booked:
Cobblers: none
Aldershot: Doug Berqvist (60)
5 cautions on or before 31 December; 1 match suspension
10 cautions on or before 11 April; 2 match suspension
15 cautions at any time in season; 3 match suspension
Sent off:
Cobblers: none
Aldershot: none
Sending offs: 2 cautions in one game; 1 match suspension but cautions do not count towards above totals. Other sendings off; 1 or 3 match suspension. Extra match ban for additional sendings off.
Ishmel Demontagnac replaced the suspended Adebayo Akinfenwa for the Cobblers last home match of 2012.
Head groundsman Paul Knowles and his staff had worked tirelessly to get the game on following some persistent heavy rainfall during the week, overnight and in to Saturday morning.
With the rain finally easing off around lunchtime the pitch was declared playable by referee Mr Tim Robinson following two earlier pitch inspections.
Jamie Young was forced to palm away an early Chris Hackett header with Ben Tozer’s long throw once again causing all kinds of problems. Kelvin Langmead then saw a shot blocked from inside the six-yard box as the Cobblers penned Aldershot back.
The game went quieter after that until on 39 minutes Clive Platt scored with a header from a Demontagnac cross, only to be denied by an off-side flag.
Boss Aidy Boothroyd made a change at half-time with Jake Robinson coming on for Demontagnac.
Robinson made an almost immediate impact to fire the Cobblers in front on 49 minutes, latching onto a long through ball from Tozer before keeping his composure to put the ball past Young.
Aldershot had a good chance to equalise on 62 minutes but Danny Hylton shot wide when well-placed in front of goal. Lee Nicholls then made a great save to deny Dani Lopez as the Shots broke quickly following a Cobblers corner-kick. Meanwhile for the Cobblers a Chris Hackett free-kick was saved well by Young as the clock ticked past the 70-minute mark.
The Shots broke again on 83 minutes but Hackett was back there defending, putting in a great challenge to deny Hylton.
Clive Platt doubled the Cobblers lead with a neat lob deep into stoppage time to seal the win.
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (5) 9
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (2) 2
CORNERS: (3) 7
FOULS: (8) 14
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (2) 4
ALDERSHOT MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (0) 3
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (5) 9
CORNERS: (0) 5
FOULS: (4) 10
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (4) 6
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by the Press Association.