Northampton Town v Rochdale
FA CUP FIRST ROUND
Saturday November 8th, 3.00pm
Sixfields
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0
ROCHDALE 0
Attendance: 2,790 (432 away fans)
Cobblers: Matt Duke, Daniel Alfei (sub Darren Carter 46), Ryan Cresswell, Lee Collins, Tom Newey, Lawson D’Ath (sub Kaid Mohamed 15), Ben Tozer, Stewart Murdoch, Joel Byrom (sub Alex Nicholls 80), Emile Sinclair, Ivan Toney.
Subs not used: Dean Snedker, Kelvin Langmead, Ricky Ravenhill.
Rochdale: Conrad Logan, Rhys Bennett, Ashley Eastham, Oliver Lancashire, Matthew Lund, Stephen Dawson, Bastien Hery (sub Joe Rafferty 59), Matty Done, Scott Tanser, Michael Rose (sub Joe Bunney 62, sub Calvin Andrew 86), Ian Henderson.
Subs not used: Josh Lillis, Reuben Noble-Lazarus, Andrew Cannon, Callum Camps.
Referee: Mr K Johnson
Booked:
Cobblers: Ryan Cresswell (45, 2nd of the season), Tom Newey (59th, 1st), Ben Tozer (75, 3rd)
Rochdale: Matthew Lund (69)
5 cautions on or before 30 November; 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
Rochdale: Ian Henderson (15)
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.
Matt Duke, Daniel Alfei and Emile Sinclair all came into the Northampton Town side for the FA Cup first round tie against Rochdale. There was also a late change to the starting line-up after Gregor Robertson picked up an injury in the warm-up, Lee Collins the player to come in.
Michael Rose tested Duke with an early free-kick, the Cobblers keeper doing well to palm away his deadball effort from 25-yards.
Rochdale were reduced to ten men with just 15 minutes on the clock, former Cobbler Ian Henderson shown a straight red card for a kick out at Ben Tozer. The Cobblers then had to make a change as Kaid Mohamed replaced Lawson D’Ath.
After getting in behind the Cobblers defence, Matty Done spurned a good chance for Dale on 39 minutes, putting his shot wide when well-placed in front of goal. Stephen Dawson then struck the crossbar with a long range shot in first half stoppage time.
The Cobblers made a change at the break with Darren Carter coming on for Alfei.
The second half began a lot more open with Town on the front foot as the game started to become a little stretched. Carter saw a rasping effort deflected behind while Ivan Toney glanced a header just wide.
Mohamed put a great ball into the box on 77 minutes but Toney’s header was over the bar. Alex Nicholls then came on for the final ten minutes, Joel Byrom making way.
Conrad Logan made a good low save to deny Sinclair as Town continued to press. Calvin Andrew’s header from a Scott Tanser free-kick then hit the post as the game neared stoppage time.
A replay up at Spotland would be needed though as neither side could net a late winner.
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (0) 4
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (0) 10
CORNERS: (0) 4
FOULS: (10) 17
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (0) 0
ROCHDALE MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (1) 2
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (3) 5
CORNERS: (0) 3
FOULS: (2) 6
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (2) 4
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by Opta