COCA-COLA LEAGUE TWO
Saturday September 12th, 3pm
Meadow Lane

NOTTS COUNTY 5
Matt Ritchie 23 and 65, Lee Hughes 44, 61 and 76 pen

Attendance: 7,154 (941 Cobblers fans)

Notts County: Kasper Schmeichel, Brendan Moloney, Matt Ritchie (sub Craig Westcarr 82), Mike Edwards, John Thompson, Lee Hughes (sub Luke Rodgers 78), Neal Bishop, Ben Davies, Karl Hawley (sub Delroy Facey 78), Jamie Clapham, Johnnie Jackson. Subs not used: Russell Hoult, Matt Hamshaw, Ricky Ravenhill, Stephen Hunt.

Cobblers: Simon Brown, Ryan Gilligan, Chris McCready, Dean Beckwith, Andy Holt, Alex Dyer, Luke Boden, John Curtis, Ben Marshall (sub Robbie Threlfall 67), Steve Guinan (sub Craig Hinton 77), Billy McKay (sub Adebayo Akinfenwa 54). Subs not used: Chris Dunn, Gary Mulligan, Abdul Osman, Luke Guttridge.

Referee: Mr M Oliver

Booked:
Notts County: John Thompson (13), Karl Hawley (17), Delroy Facey (81)
Cobblers: John Curtis (44, 2nd of the season) 

5 cautions on or before 28 February; 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:
Notts County: none
Cobblers: Chris McCready (76, 1 match ban, misses Rochdale 19/09/09) 

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.

Ian Sampson made five changes as he named his first Northampton Town team for this fixture with Notts County at Meadow Lane. Simon Brown, Alex Dyer, John Curtis, Steve Guinan and Billy McKay came into the team to replace Chris Dunn, Robbie Threlfall, Craig Hinton, Gary Mulligan and Adebayo Akinfenwa.

Andy Holt skippered the side on a sunny afternoon in Nottingham, and it was the Cobblers who created the first opportunity. The recalled Alex Dyer broke well from midfield and exchanged passes with Steve Guinan to get behind the County defence. His charge was stopped by Kasper Schmeichel who made the block rushing off his line, the keeper also quick to deny Billy McKay from the rebound.

Although Dyer had come close to scoring then, he did not have to wait much longer for a goal. A long throw from Ryan Gilligan on the right hand side was flicked on by Steve Guinan and with Schmeichel committed, Alex Dyer looped home into the empty net at the far post.

County skipper John Thompson was booked for diving, before the name of former Cobblers loanee Karl Hawley followed into the book for a trip on John Curtis.

The home side were level on 23 minutes. A deep cross to the far post was headed home by Matt Ritchie.

Mike Edwards headed a near post corner over the bar for Ian McParland's side, while Lee Hughes was also a fraction too high with his effort from Jamie Clapham's cross. Simon Brown then got down low to save from Johnnie Jackson as the home side continued their good spell.

John Curtis was booked for a foul on Ritchie a minute before the break, and from the resulting free kick County took the lead. A long delivery was played in by Brendan Moloney and Lee Hughes got in behind the Cobblers defence to volley home.

Luke Boden volleyed just wide of the far post as the Cobblers looked to come back, but the half time whistle blew with County holding a narrow advantage.

The opening chance of the second half fell to Karl Hawley, but his rising shot was too high to trouble Brown.

Ian Sampson made his first change, with Adebayo Akinfenwa coming on for Billy McKay.

While there might have been a suspicion of a push by Lee Hughes when he scored his first goal of the afternoon, there were no such issues with his second, the striker heading home at the far post from a Karl Hawley cross.

The lead was extended a few minutes later when Matt Ritchie's low shot took a big deflection to beat Brown.

The Cobblers second change saw Robbie Threlfall replace Ben Marshall. A quickly taken free kick almost caught the home side out, but Luke Boden's curled finish just dropped beyond the far post.

Matters got worse when the referee awarded a penalty for a foul by Chris McCready on Karl Hawley. McCready was sent off and Lee Hughes scored from the spot. Before the game could restart Craig Hinton replaced Steve Guinan.

A double County change saw Delroy Facey and Luke Rodgers replace Hawley and Hughes, and it was Facey who thought he had scored the home side's sixth but the goal was ruled out for handball and the striker picked up a caution.

The final change of the game saw Craig Westcarr come on for Matt Ritchie for the home side.

Brown saved well to deny Facey on 84 minutes, before Andy Holt latched on to a long ball from Craig Hinton, got himself in behind the full back and scored, beating Schmeichel at his near post.

NOTTS COUNTY MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (5) 8
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (6) 8
CORNERS: (2) 6
FOULS: (6) 12
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (0) 0

COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (2) 3
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (2) 5
CORNERS: (0) 0
FOULS: (11) 19
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (1) 2

The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by the Press Association.

Advertisement
The Northampton Chronicle & Echo, which prints Cobblers in the Community every Friday, can be delivered to your home for half price with no delivery charge! Please email direct.delivery@jpress.co.uk quoting reference DDHP01 for more details. Please phone 01604 467074 for full terms and conditions.