NORTHAMPTON TOWN YOUTH 0

READING YOUTH 1
Nicholas Bignall 88

The Cobblers youth team were in FA Youth Cup action on Wednesday night as they took on Reading at Sixfields in a third round tie.

Included in the Cobblers side was midfielder Alex Dyer, just 24 hours after he had appeared as a late substitute in the first team's FA Cup replay at Walsall.

With manager Stuart Gray and first team coach Ian Sampson both watching on with keen interest, the Cobblers started brightly and on 4 minutes Greg Taylor had a shot from the edge of the area well blocked by a Reading defender.

Joe Benjamin, who was getting the best of an ongoing battle with the Reading right-back Daniel Spence, put in a good cross on 14 minutes but unfortunately neither of the two Cobblers players in attendance managed to get in a shot.

In a first half fairly bereft of clear cut chances the Cobblers had more than matched their Academy opponents and on 43 minutes Richie Jones had a deflected shot saved by Reading keeper Alex McCarthy.

The first chance of the second half fell to the Cobblers on 49 minutes with skipper Ross Oulton's 25-yard low drive palmed out for a corner by McCarthy. The ball had initially fallen to Oulton after the lively Joe Benjamin's cross had only been half cleared by the Reading defence.

Reading forced a corner on 61 minutes when a rare foray forward from the Royals ended with Nicholas Bignall having a shot deflected behind.

The first booking of the game came on 75 minutes with Ross Oulton shown the yellow card for a challenge on Josh Webb.

With the clock running down and the game becoming more open, a Josh Webb corner for the visitors flicked the top of the cross bar while at the other end the best chance of the game fell to Shaun Goodall but his shot whistled narrowly past the post.

With play then switching quickly back to the other end Paul Walker pulled off a superb save to tip Jason Downes 20-yard dipping effort over the bar.

Reading took the lead from the resultant corner with Nicholas Bignall smashing the ball home from close range after the ball had initially come back off the cross bar.

The goal was very harsh on the Cobblers as their performance had deserved to at least take the tie into extra-time.

Teams:

Cobblers: Paul Walker, Richie Jones, Freddie Avill, Alex Dyer, Mark Haines, Jon Marzetti, Greg Taylor, Sam Maude, Shaun Goodall, Joe Benjamin, Ross Oulton (Wes Emery, 90)
Subs not used: Ben Judd, Jake Suckling, Shawn Richards, Tom Gernon

Reading: Alex McCarthy, Daniel Spence, Julian Kelly, Tom Hateley, Patrick Cox, Harrison Bailey, Mitchell Bryant (Kelvin Bossman, 53), Josh Webb, Radislav Vasilev, Jahson Downes, Nicholas Bignall
Subs not used: Ross Kitteridge, Ashley Mitchell, Andrew White, Oliver Kelly

Referee: Mr B O'Sullivan

Attendance: 454

Match Stats:
Cobblers
Shots on: 3
Shots off: 4
Corners: 2
Fouls: 9
Offsides: 4

Reading
Shots on: 5
Shots off: 2
Corners: 7
Fouls: 14
Offsides: 0

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