Northampton Town 2 Cheltenham Town 0 - the match report
SKY BET LEAGUE 2
Saturday April 18th, 3.00pm
Sixfields
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 2
Ivan Toney 57
Marc Richards 70
CHELTENHAM TOWN 0
Attendance: 4,579 (459 away fans)
Cobblers: Shwan Jalal, Brendon Moloney, Zander Diamond, Lee Collins, Evan Horwood (sub Darren Carter 86), Lawson D’Ath, John-Joe O’Toole, Joel Byrom, Ricky Holmes, Diego De Girolamo (sub Marc Richards 66), Ivan Toney (sub James Gray 75)
Subs not used: Matt Duke, Ben Tozer, Ross Perry, Chris Hackett
Cheltenham: Trevor Carson, Craig Braham-Barrett, Matthew Taylor (sub Jack Deaman 44), Troy Brown, Matt Richards, Kane Ferdinand (sub Joe Hanks 29), Zachary Kotwica (sub Harry Williams 85), Matt Sparrow, Durrell Berry, Shaun Harrad, Mathieu Manset
Subs not used: Pablo Mills, Matthew Gould, Omari Sterling-James, Shaquille McDonald
Referee: Mr D Sheldrake
Booked:
Cobblers: Joel Byrom (34, 12th of the season), Zander Diamond (45, 4th)
Cheltenham: Durrell Berry (17)
15 cautions at any time in season; 3 match suspension
Sent off:
Cobblers: none
Cheltenham: 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.
Cheltenham Town, managed by former Cobblers boss Gary Johnson, were the visitors to Sixfields for Northampton Town’s penultimate home game of the season.
Chris Wilder named an unchanged side as Jason Taylor and Ryan Cresswell completed their two-match bans while ex-Cobblers Shaun Harrad and Kane Ferdinand both started for the Robins.
Diego De Girolamo had the Cobblers first serious effort on goal of the afternoon but after a good turn from the Sheffield United loanee his shot was saved by Trevor Carson. Lawson D’Ath had a shot blocked and Joel Byrom fired over as the Cobblers enjoyed a spell of pressure on the Cheltenham goal.
Joe Hanks came on for Kane Ferdinand as the Robins made a change just before the half hour mark. Cheltenham were then forced into making a second change on 43 minutes with their skipper Matthew Taylor having picked up an injury, Jack Deaman the player to come on.
The Cobblers started the second half brightly but it was Cheltenham who went close to breaking the deadlock on 54 minutes when a Joe Hanks shot from distance struck the crossbar.
Ivan Toney scored the opener soon after however, finishing neatly from close range after getting on the end of a pin-point cross from Lawson D’Ath.
Marc Richards came on for De Girolamo midway through the second half as the Cobblers captain and leading goalscorer continued his comeback from an Achilles injury.
Richards scored his 18th of the season and doubled the Cobblers lead having only been on the pitch for a matter of minutes, wrong-footing the Cheltenham defender before finding the back of the net with a cool finish.
James Gray came on for the final quarter of an hour in place of goalscorer Toney, who left the field to rapturous applause and a standing ovation from the Cobblers fans.
A shot from Richards deflected into the side netting as the Cobblers sensed a third goal. 2-0 was how it finished though with Chris Wilder’s side having played some terrific free-flowing football in claiming the three points.
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (3) 8
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (4) 8
CORNERS: (2) 5
FOULS: (5) 9
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (1) 2
CHELTENHAM MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (1) 2
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (3) 6
CORNERS: (0) 4
FOULS: (8) 15
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (3) 10
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by Opta