Exeter City v Northampton Town
NPOWER LEAGUE 2
Saturday March 2nd
St James Park
EXETER CITY 3
Lee Nicholls 21 og
Jamie Cureton 58
Jake Gosling 83
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0
Attendance: 4,666 (414 Cobblers fans)
Exeter: Artur Krysiak, Craig Woodman, Scot Bennett, Pat Baldwin, Danny Coles, Matt Oakley (sub Jimmy Keohane 90), Arron Davies, Jamie Cureton (sub John O'Flynn 84), Tommy Doherty, Kevin Amankwaah, Jake Gosling
Subs not used: Rhys Evans, Steve Tully, Guillem Bauza, Aaron Dawson, Jordan Moore-Taylor
Cobblers: Lee Nicholls, Ben Tozer, Kelvin Langmead, Clarke Carlisle, Lee Collins, Luke Guttridge, Lewis Hornby (sub Jake Robinson 66), Ben Harding, Joe Widdowson (sub Clive Platt 67), Roy O’Donovan, Adebayo Akinfenwa
Subs not used: Dean Snedker, Ishmel Demontagnac, Claudio Dias, John Johnson, Chris Hackett
Referee: Mr T Robinson
Booked:
Exeter: none
Cobblers: Ben Tozer (74, 3rd of the season), Clarke Carlisle (81, 7th)
10 cautions on or before 11 April; 2 match suspension
15 cautions at any time in season; 3 match suspension
Sent off:
Exeter: 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.
Luke Guttridge and Joe Widdowson (back from suspension) both came into the side, replacing Clive Platt and Jake Robinson.
Former Cobblers midfielder Arron Davies started for Exeter while Guillem Bauzza, who also previously had a brief spell at Sixfields, was named among the Grecians substitutes.
After a fairly sedate start to the game Exeter took the lead from a Craig Woodman corner on 22 minutes, Lee Nicholls failing to keep the ball out under a challenge by Danny Coles.
The Cobblers responded well to falling behind with Kevin Amankwaah clearing the ball away from a well-set Adebayo Akinfenwa. Artur Krysiak meanwhile saved comfortably from Roy O'Donovan.
Nicholls made a good save to keep out a header from Tommy Doherty on 39 minutes before at the other end Akinfenwa also saw a header saved.
Jamie Cureton had a chance to double Exeter's lead on 41 minutes only to be denied by a superb save from Nicholls.
Arron Davies passed up a glorious chance to double Exeter's lead at the start of the second half, rolling the ball wide when faced with an open goal.
Exeter did double their lead on 59 minutes, the ever-green Jamie Cureton scoring with a flicked header from a free kick.
Midway through the second half Aidy Boothroyd made a double substitution, Clive Platt and Jake Robinson coming on for Lewis Hornby and Joe Widdowson.
As the Cobblers started to apply some concerted pressure on the Exeter goal, A header from Akinfenwa was cleared off the goal line before moments later Artur Krysiak pulled off a fine save to deny Langmead.
After another goal line clearance denied the Cobblers (Clarke Carlisle) Jake Gosling made it 3-0 to the hosts on 83 minutes, finishing well following a good run from midfield.
Krysiak did well to save a fiercely driven shot from Ben Harding late on but there was to be no consolation goal for the Cobblers and Exeter claimed a 3-0 victory.
EXETER MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (3) 7
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (0) 2
CORNERS: (3) 4
FOULS: (5) 6
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (3) 5
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (2) 11
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (1) 4
CORNERS: (2) 8
FOULS: (4) 9
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (2) 2
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by the Press Association.