Plymouth Argyle 2 Northampton Town 0 - the match report
SKY BET LEAGUE 2
Saturday March 7th, 3.00pm
Home Park
PLYMOUTH ARGYLE 2
Anthony O'Connor 28
Lewis Alessandra 86
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0
Attendance: 6,501 (320 Cobblers fans)
Plymouth: Luke McCormick, Kelvin Mellor, Curtis Nelson. Lewis Alessandra (sub Jason Banton 88), Reuben Reid (sub Ryan Brunt 87), Tareiq Holmes-Dennis, Carl McHugh (sub Dominic Blizzard 79), Bobby Reid, Anthony O'Connor, Drew Talbot, Peter Hartley.
Subs not used: James Bittner, Ben Purrington, Lee Cox, Tyler Harvey.
Cobblers: Matt Duke, Brendon Moloney, Ryan Cresswell, Lee Collins, Evan Horwood, Jason Taylor, Darren Carter, Lawson D’Ath (sub John-Joe O'Toole 61), Ivan Toney, Ricky Holmes, James Gray (sub Billy Bodin 61)
Subs not used: Shwan Jalal, Tom Newey, Zander Diamond, Danny Clifton
Referee: Mr S Martin
Booked:
Plymouth: Anthony O'Connor (28), Peter Hartley (58), Tareiq Holmes-Dennis (59)
Cobblers: Jason Taylor (83, 9th of the season)
10 cautions on or before 11 April; 2 match suspension
15 cautions at any time in season; 3 match suspension
Sent off:
Plymouth: 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.
Northampton were dealt a major injury blow ahead of the trip to Plymouth with the news that leading goalscorer Marc Richards (Achilles) had been ruled out for six to eight weeks. New loan signing Accrington Stanley striker James Gray came straight into the side while Darren Carter replaced the suspended Joel Byrom in central midfield. Chris Hackett missed out through illness.
After a scrappy opening fifteen minutes Ivan Toney had a header saved by Luke McCormick. Reuben Reid got his angles wrong with a header midway through the first half before debutant Gray just couldn’t quite direct Carter’s shot goalwards.
Lewis Alessandra should have put the home side in front but one-on-one with Matt Duke his tame volley was straight at the Cobblers keeper.
Plymouth had the lead soon after however, Anthony O’Connor’s drilled effort into the corner of the net giving Duke no chance.
McCormick saved a shot from Carter at the start of the second half while for Argyle Drew Talbot was denied by a block at close range.
From a well-worked Cobblers free-kick Ricky Holmes had an effort deflected behind before Chris Wilder made a double change with John-Joe O’Toole, back from a three-match ban, and Billy Bodin replacing James Gray and Lawson D’Ath.
The Cobblers were posing a threat and Evan Horwood went close from another set-piece on 72 minutes, his free-kick landing on the roof of the net.
With Town pushing forward Argyle doubled their lead against the run of play on 86 minutes, Lewis Alessandra taking the ball round Matt Duke to score and effectively rubber stamp the three points for John Sheridan’s side.
PLYMOUTH MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (5) 7
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (2) 3
CORNERS: (1) 2
FOULS: (6) 11
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (2) 4
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (1) 5
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (3) 7
CORNERS: (3) 6
FOULS: (7) 13
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (3) 3
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by Opta