Peterborough United 3 Northampton Town 0 - the match report
SKY BET LEAGUE 1
Tuesday October 18th, 7.45pm
ABAX Stadium
PETERBOROUGH UNITED 3
Shaquile Coulthirst 14
Ryan Tafazolli 36
Tom Nichols 83
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0
Attendance: 9.157 (2,142 Cobblers fans)
Peterborough: Luke McGee, Michael Smith, Andrew Hughes, Michael Bostwick, Ryan Tafazolli, Jack Baldwin, Chris Forrester, Paul Taylor (sub Gwion Edwards 77), Marcus Maddison, Shaquile Coulthirst (sub Tom Nichols 45), Leo Da Silva Lopes (sub Callum Chettle 86)
Subs not used: Mark Tyler, Hayden White, Nathan Oduwa, George Moncur
Cobblers: Adam Smith, Brendan Moloney, David Buchanan, Zander Diamond, Lewin Nyatanga (sub JJ Hooper 60), Gabriel Zakuani, Paul Anderson, Joel Byrom (sub John-Joe O'Toole 46), Sam Hoskins, Alex Revell, Marc Richards
Subs not used: David Cornell, Kenji Gorre, Alfie Potter, Harry Beautyman, Aaron Phillips
Referee: Neil Swarbrick
Booked:
Peterborough: Marcus Maddison (40)
Cobblers: Joel Byrom (32, 1st of the season), John-Joe O'Toole (76, 7th)
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:
Peterborough: none
Cobblers: 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.
Rob Page made four changes for the Cobblers first trip to Peterborough since 2009. Gabriel Zakuani, Marc Richards, Sam Hoskins and Joel Byrom all came into the side, replacing Harry Beautyman, John-Joe O’Toole, JJ Hooper and the suspended Jak McCourt.
Zakuani lined up in a central back three against his former club while Richards partnered Alex Revell in attack. Byrom made a rare start with Matt Taylor serving the second match of a three-game ban.
Peterborough had the first attack of the night with Adam Smith forced to turn behind a shot from Chris Forrester.
The home side took the lead on 14 minutes, Shaquile Coulthirst turning in a pin-point Marcus Maddison corner.
Sam Hoskins was denied by some good defending from Jack Baldwin as the Cobblers responded well to falling behind, Zander Diamond also denied by a close range block inside the area.
Smith saved a Maddison shot from distance and another stinging shot from Forester but he couldn’t prevent Posh doubling their lead from a corner on 36 minutes when Ryan Tafazolli headed home.
Hoskins saw a shot saved by Luke McGee before Peterborough were forced into making a change just before half-time, Tom Nichols coming on for the injured Coulthirst.
John-Joe O’Toole replaced Joel Byrom at half-time, Byrom having picked up a yellow card in the first half.
A terrific save from Smith kept the scoreline at 2-0 as Paul Taylor was denied. JJ Hooper came on for Lewin Nyatanga on the hour mark as Rob Page reverted to four at the back.
Referee Neil Swarbrick turned down a big shout for handball as the Cobblers piled on the pressure in an effort to get themselves back into the game.
Hooper had a header deflected behind but in their efforts to push forward the Cobblers were caught on the counter-attack as Tom Nichols made it 3-0, turning home Gwion Edwards cross following a quick break from the home side. That was how it finished with the return league fixture at Sixfields to come on 19 November.
PETERBOROUGH MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (8) 13
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (3) 4
CORNERS: (5) 6
FOULS: (5) 11
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (1) 3
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (5) 10
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (1) 6
CORNERS: (4) 8
FOULS: (8) 11
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (2) 2
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by Opta