Two goals from Alex Konstantinou - the second in extra time - saw Northampton Town through to the second round of the FA Youth Cup at the expense of Rushden & Diamonds at Nene Park on Monday night. The Cobblers recorded a 2-1 victory.

Nabil Shariff had given the Diamonds a first half lead, before Konstantinou equalised on 62 minutes. Matt Evans missed a penalty for the home side three minutes later meaning the tie went to extra time and Konstantinou scored his second to seal the Cobblers passage into round 2 after 97 minutes.

"We were not at our best at all," said coach Sean Parrish.

"We are pleased to be through but that is the only real positive I can take from the performance.

"We will take the result and move on, knowing we will have to do much better in the next round.

"Rushden will be left wondering how they are out. They went 1-0 up and had the better chances, but Paul Walker kept us in the game with some excellent saves. That gave us a base to build from, and Alex scored two very good goals to see us through.

"A good result, but plenty of room for improvement."

Cobblers:
Paul Walker, Liam Ruddock, Ben Islam (sub Charlie Death 73), Malachi Farquharson, Josh Urquhart, Luke Cray, Michael Jacobs, Tom McBride, Will Green, Alex Konstantinou, Tom McGowan (sub Greg Kaziboni 67). Subs not used: George Dukes, Mihai Gherasim.