Port Vale 2 Northampton Town 2 - the match report
NPOWER LEAGUE 2
Saturday April 20th
Vale Park
PORT VALE 2
Liam Chilvers 39
Lee Collins 86 og
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 2
Clarke Carlisle 3
Roy O'Donovan 69
Attendance: 12,496 (1,076 Cobblers fans)
Port Vale: Chris Neal, Adam Yates, Anthony Griffith (sub Sam Morsy 73), Darren Purse (sub Chris Shuker 77), Doug Loft, Louis Dodds (sub Chris Birchall 73), Jennison Myrie-Williams, Tom Pope, Liam Chilvers, Lee Hughes, Daniel Jones
Subs not used: Sam Johnson, John McCombe, Ryan Lloyd, Richard Duffy
Cobblers: Lee Nicholls, Ben Tozer, Clarke Carlisle, Lee Collins, John Johnson, Chris Hackett, Lewis Hornby, Ben Harding, Luke Guttridge, Roy O’Donovan, David Moyo
Subs not used: Dean Snedker, Adebayo Akinfenwa, Lewis Wilson, Claudio Dias, Nathan Cameron, Jake Robinson
Referee: Mr Keith Hill
Booked:
Port Vale: Lee Hughes (45)
Cobblers: Clarke Carlisle (11, 10th of the season), Luke Guttridge (71, 6th), Chris Hackett (78, 6th)
15 cautions at any time in season; 3 match suspension
Sent off:
Port Vale: none
Cobblers: none
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.
David Moyo, making his first start for the club, replaced Adebayo Akinfenwa who started the game on the bench. John Johnson also came into the side with Joe Widdowson ruled out with a knee injury.
The Cobblers took the lead on 3 minutes, Clarke Carlisle sliding the ball home after the Port Vale defence failed to clear from a corner.
As the game approached the half hour mark Lee Nicholls made a good save to keep out a shot from League Two's leading goalscorer Tom Pope.
Some good link up play between Moyo and Luke Guttridge on 35 minutes resulted in the latter firing in a shot that rattled the Vale crossbar. With the ball still in play, Guttridge then had a header saved by Chris Neal.
Port Vale equalised on 38 minutes, Liam Chilvers with a flicked header from close range.
Lewis Hornby and Ben Tozer were then both forced into making goal line clearances as the home side gathered momentum following their equaliser.
An ambitious effort from Lewis Hornby was deflected behind at the start of the second half, Carlisle shooting just over from the subsequent corner-kick.
A drilled free-kick from Myrie-Williams was palmed away by Nicholls just after the hour mark.
The Cobblers re-took the lead on 69 minutes, Roy O'Donovan with a sublime strike into the top corner.
Vale equalised for a second time on 86 minutes when completely against the run of play a shot from substitute Chris Birchall was turned in by the unfortunate Lee Collins.
There were no more goals after that and the game ended 2-2 but with Exeter having lost at home to Cheltenham the Cobblers place in the end of season play-offs was assured.
PORT VALE MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (10) 12
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (3) 5
CORNERS: (5) 8
FOULS: (6) 12
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (1) 1
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (2) 4
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (2) 4
CORNERS: (3) 5
FOULS: (9) 20
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (1) 1
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by the Press Association.