Burton Albion 3 Northampton Town 1 - the match report
SKY BET LEAGUE 2
Saturday April 25th, 3.00pm
Pirelli Stadium
BURTON ALBION 3
Lucas Akins 4, 41 pen
Phil Edwards 31
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 1
Lawson D'Ath 54
Attendance: 5,720 (736 Cobblers fans)
Burton: Jon McLaughlin, Phil Edwards, Shane Cansdell-Sherriff, John Mousinho, Damien McCrory, Lucas Akins, Robbie Weir (sub Matty Palmer 86), Tom Naylor, Kevin Stewart (sub Adam McGurk 68), Nasser El Khayati (sub Denny Johnstone 89), Stuart Beavon
Subs not used: Scott Shearer, George Taft, Marcus Harness, Kelvin Maynard
Cobblers: Shwan Jalal, Brendon Moloney (sub Chris Hackett 90), Zander Diamond, Lee Collins (sub Ryan Cresswell 46), Evan Horwood, Lawson D’Ath, Jason Taylor, Joel Byrom, Ricky Holmes, Diego De Girolamo (sub Marc Richards 46), Ivan Toney
Subs not used: Matt Duke, Ben Tozer, Darren Carter, James Gray
Referee: Mr R Clark
Booked:
Burton: none
Cobblers: Jason Taylor (78, 11th of the season), Ryan Cresswell (87, 10th)
15 cautions at any time in season; 3 match suspension
Sent off:
Burton: none
Cobblers: none
Sendings off: 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.
Jason Taylor, back from suspension, replaced John-Joe O’Toole (groin) in Northampton Town’s starting XI for their final away game of the 2014/15 season.
Burton went into the game having already sealed promotion to League One and they took an early lead, Lucas Akins tapping the ball home from close range after Shwan Jalal’s goal-kick had been charged down by Stuart Beavon.
As the home side looked to double their lead Jalal made a good save to deny Beavon while a glancing header from the Burton striker landed on the roof of the Cobblers net. Town’s first attempt on goal came on 25 minutes, Jon McLaughlin saving Evan Horwood’s free-kick.
Phil Edwards doubled Burton’s lead on 31 minutes, his scuffed shot from a corner going in via the inside of the post.
It was 3-0 ten minutes later, Lucas Akins scoring from the penalty spot having himself been brought down in the area by Horwood.
Marc Richards and Ryan Cresswell came on for the second half, replacing Diego De Girolamo and Lee Collins.
The Cobblers pulled a goal back on 53 minutes and it was a terrific strike by Lawson D’Ath, the winger chesting down Brendon Moloney’s chipped pass and scoring on the turn with a sublime right-foot volley.
McLaughlin made a superb save to keep out an Ivan Toney volley as the Cobblers looked for a quick second goal to further reduce their arrears.
Chris Wilder’s side continued to press for the remainder of the second half but there were to be no more goals as the league leaders Burton secured the three points with a 3-1 victory.
BURTON MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (5) 6
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (3) 6
CORNERS: (5) 7
FOULS: (4) 11
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (2) 3
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (2) 7
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (0) 4
CORNERS: (0) 2
FOULS: (8) 17
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (0) 0
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by Opta