PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY
Thursday July 10th, 7.30pm
St James Park

Attendance: 620

Brackley: Richard KNIGHT, Craig FARLEY, Wayne BLOSSOM, Dave SAVAGE, Josh GREEN, Scott HADLAND, Dave STAFF, Dean CRACKNELL, David STONE, Ben MACKEY, Tom WINTERS. 
Substitutes: Anthony FUNTENELLE, Danny SPENCER, Justin MARSDEN, Jamie PATERSON, Scott CROSS, Jack LONGFORD, Luke CHARNELL, Tom WILLSHIRE

Cobblers: Mark BUNN (sub Chris DUNN 62), Ritchie JONES (sub Shawn RICHARDS 67), Liam DAVIS (sub Danny JACKMAN 46), Mark HUGHES (sub Jon MARZETTI 78), Liam DOLMAN, Chris DOIG (sub Gabor GYEPES 46), Ryan GILLIGAN (sub Abdul OSMAN 46), Alex DYER (sub Ross OULTON 55), Leon CONSTANTINE (sub Ian HENDERSON 55), Colin LARKIN (sub Joe BENJAMIN 70), Giles COKE (sub Greg TAYLOR 62)

Referee: Mr S Burt

Booked:
Brackley: none
Cobblers: none

Sent off:
Brackley: none
Cobblers: none

Northampton Town travelled to Brackley Town for their opening pre-season friendly. On a wet July evening, all of the professional players spent some time on the field, apart from Jason Crowe, Andy Holt and Adebayo Akinfenwa. The home side included former Cobblers Dean Cracknell, Dave Savage and Scott Cross in their squad.

On a superb St James Park pitch, Alex Dyer rattled the cross bar after 5 minutes, the midfielder sending in a powerful drive from the edge of the area after a lay back from Leon Constantine. Moments later, Tom Winters drove wide of the far post for the Saints.

A15th minute Liam Davis corner caused problems for the Brackley defence, keeper Richard Knight initially spilling the ball before grabbing it at the second attempt, before a number of white shirts could capitalise.

As the first half wore on, the Cobblers defensive wall was in the right place to block a number of free kicks from Tom Winters as the home side pushed forward, but the first forty five minutes of pre-season ended goal-less.

Stuart Gray made three changes at half time with Gabor Gyepes, Danny Jackman and Abdul Osman replacing Chris Doig, Liam Davis and Ryan Gilligan. Ross Oulton and Ian Henderson were soon introduced at the expense of Leon Constantine and Alex Dyer. As the changes continued, Greg Taylor came on for Giles Coke, and Chris Dunn replaced Mark Bunn.

Shawn Richards came on for Ritchie Jones at the midway point of the second half, while Joe Benjamin replaced Colin Larkin.

As often happens in pre-season games, the flow of the match was interrupted by the changes, but on 77 minutes a curling Jackman free kick was headed over the bar by Gyepes. An intelligent run from Ian Henderson then saw him latch on to a through ball from Osman clear of the defence, only for the move to be cut short by an offside flag.

Jon Marzetti came on for Mark Hughes, before a deep cross from Greg Taylor gave Shawn Richards sight of goal on 83 minutes, but substitute goalkeeper Tom Willshire was in the right place to save his header.

The Cobblers were close to breaking the deadlock on 85 minutes. Joe Benjamin made a powerful run down the right and delivered a low cross that Danny Jackman sent narrowly wide of the far post.

That was the final chance of the night as the Cobblers first pre-season game drew to a close.

BRACKLEY MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (2) 2
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (4) 4
CORNERS: (4) 7
FOULS: (5) 14
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (3) 3

COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (2) 3
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (1) 4
CORNERS: (5) 6
FOULS: (6) 12
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (3) 7