SKY BET LEAGUE 2      
Saturday February 11th, 3.00pm
Crown Oil Arena

ROCHDALE 1
Ian Henderson 52

NORTHAMPTON TOWN 1
Ben Fox 89

Attendance: 2,742 (432 Cobblers fans)

Rochdale: Richard O’Donnell, Max Taylor, Abraham Odoh, Jimmy Keohane, Rhys Bennett, Scott Quigley (sub Tahvon Campbell 90), Toumani Diagouraga, Owen Dodgson, Danny Lloyd (sub James Ball 90), Toby Mullarkey, Ian Henderson (sub D'Mani Mellor 78)
Subs not used: Jake Eastwood, Femi Seriki, Liam Kelly, Sam Graham
 
Cobblers: Tom King, Sam Sherring, Tyler Magloire (sub D'Margio Wright-Phillips 84), Jon Guthrie, Shaun McWilliams (sub Marc Leonard 75), Jack Sowerby (sub Josh Harrop 84), Mitch Pinnock, Ben Fox, Sam Hoskins, Louis Appere (sub Tete Yengi 58), Josh Eppiah (sub Harvey Lintott 58)
Subs not used: Jonny Maxted, Will Hondermarck

Referee: Neil Hair

Booked:
Rochdale: Toumani Diagouraga (62), Danny Lloyd (81), Scott Quigley (88)
Cobblers: none

Sent off:
Rochdale: none      
Cobblers: none

Josh Eppiah and Ben Fox came into the Cobblers side for the trip to Rochdale while January signing Will Hondermarck was named on the bench. Ali Koiki served a one match ban following his sending off against Walsall with Akin Odimayo, who picked up an injury in that game, also missing.

After a quiet opening fifteen minutes, Ian Henderson just failed to connect with a cross/shot from Danny Lloyd while Ben Fox and Sam Hoskins both drew comfortable saves from former Cobblers goalkeeper Richard O’Donnell.

Eppiah headed wide from a Mitch Pinnock cross on 28 minutes but the teams headed in at half-time with the score still goalless.

Scott Quigley headed wide for the home side at the start of the second half before Tom King pulled off a good save to keep out a Danny Lloyd free kick. King then made another smart stop to deny Quigley and Ian Henderson failed to find the target from close range in a period of Dale pressure.

Rochdale had been threatening and they took the lead on 52 minutes, Ian Henderson making up for his miss moments before by capitalising on a short back pass and rounding King to find the back of the net.

Sam Hoskins went close with a free kick as the Cobblers responded, Jon Brady bringing on Tete Yengi and Harvey Lintott in a double change.

O’Donnell saved from Pinnock after a good run down the right by Lintott but there was a chance for Dale to double their lead on the counter attack, Quigley flashing a shot just wide.

Hoskins had a shot deflected behind as the Cobblers pressed for an equaliser with Marc Leonard, D’Margio Wright-Phillips and Josh Harrop all coming on for the closing stages.

With the 90 minutes almost up the Cobblers equalised, Ben Fox finding space inside the area and firing a finish past O’Donnell at the near post. A frantic period of stoppage time followed but despite pushing hard for a winner the Cobblers had to settle for a point, O’Donnell denying Wright-Phillips one-on-one in the final few seconds.

ROCHDALE MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)     
SHOTS ON TARGET: (0) 3
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (2) 6
CORNERS: (2) 4       
FOULS: (6) 15       
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (3) 5

COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)      
SHOTS ON TARGET: (2) 6
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (0) 5
CORNERS: (3) 4
FOULS: (3) 13
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (1) 1