Northampton Town v Dagenham & Redbridge
SKY BET LEAGUE 2
Saturday January 17th 3.00pm
Sixfields
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 1
Ricky Holmes 60
DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE 0
Attendance: 4,122 (156 away fans)
Cobblers: Matt Duke, Brendon Moloney, Ryan Cresswell, Lee Collins, Evan Horwood, John-Joe O’Toole (sub Chris Hackett 84), Jason Taylor, Joel Byrom, Lawson D’Ath, Marc Richards, Ricky Holmes (sub Ivan Toney 90).
Subs not used: Dean Snedker, Gregor Robertson, Ben Tozer, Darren Carter, Zander Diamond.
Dagenham & Redbridge: Mark Cousins, Damian Batt, Jack Connors, Scott Doe, Billy Bingham, Rhys Murphy (sub Jamie Cureton 65), Joss Labadie, Ashley Hemmings (sub Ashley Chambers 82), Ayo Obileye, Andre Boucard, Alex Jakubiak (sub Ade Yusuff 65)
Subs not used: Liam O’Brien, Brian Saah, Luke Howell, Joe Widdowson
Referee: Mr C Breakspear
Booked:
Cobblers: Jason Taylor (43, 5th of the season), John-Joe O'Toole (84, 8th)
Dagenham & Redbridge: Damian Batt (48)
10 cautions on or before 11 April; 2 match suspension
15 cautions at any time in season; 3 match suspension
Sent off:
Cobblers: none
Dagenham & Redbridge: none
Sendings off: 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.
The Cobblers starting eleven was again unchanged for the visit of Dagenham but three players returned on the bench, Ivan Toney from suspension and Zander Diamond and Gregor Robertson from injury. Former Town left-back Joe Widdowson was among the Daggers substitutes.
On a bitterly cold afternoon at Sixfields it was the home side who started on the offensive. Ricky Holmes felt he was brought down in the area in the opening exchanges but the referee disagreed. After having an effort cleared off the line Ryan Cresswell then headed just wide as the Cobblers relentless early pressure on the Dagenham goal continued.
Rhys Murphy had the first sight at goal for the away side but put his shot over the bar despite a suspicion of hand-ball.
John-Joe O’Toole went close with a neat back-heel while Lawson D’Ath was well-placed to give the Cobblers the lead on 37 minutes but the winger’s shot went back across the face of goal, Marc Richards' follow-up header was straight at the Daggers goalkeeper.
Town had the ball in the back of the net on 52 minutes only for a Marc Richards header, set up by a sublime cross from Ricky Holmes, to be ruled out in a very tight-looking off-side decision.
A long throughball from Andre Boucard then set up a rare chance for Dagenham as Murphy shot straight at Matt Duke.
The breakthrough Chris Wilder’s side so richly deserved came on the hour mark, Ricky Holmes with a couple of neat turns and a class finish following some good approach work by O’Toole.
Brendon Moloney thumped a 30-yard shot just wide as the Cobblers went close to doubling their lead before from another set-piece Horwood cut the ball back for Joel Byrom but his drilled shot was deflected behind.
There was to be no second goal but in the end it wasn’t needed as the Cobblers saw the game out to claim the three points their performance more than warranted.
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (4) 11
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (3) 6
CORNERS: (5) 10
FOULS: (7) 13
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (1) 2
DAGENHAM MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (2) 2
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (5) 3
CORNERS: (0) 1
FOULS: (5) 12
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (3) 8
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by Opta