Coventry City 1 Northampton Town 1 - the match report
SKY BET LEAGUE 1
Saturday August 27th, 3.00pm
The Ricoh Arena
COVENTRY CITY 1
Marcus Tudgay 63
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 1
Harry Beautyman 30
Attendance: 10,022 (1,608 Cobblers fans)
Coventry: Reice Charles-Cook, Jordan Willis, Jordan Turnbull, Daniel Agyei (sub Jodi Jones 57), Chris McCann, Vladimir Gadzhev, Lewis Page, Marvin Sordell (sub Kyel Reid 67), Marcus Tudgay, Cian Harries (sub Gael Bigirimana 72), Dion Kelly-Evans
Subs not used: Lee Burge, Ruben Lameiras, Sam Ricketts, Ryan Haynes
Cobblers: Adam Smith, Brendan Moloney (sub Aaron Phillips 76), Zander Diamond, Lewin Nyatanga, David Buchanan, John-Joe O’Toole (sub Lawson D'Ath 60), Matt Taylor, Jak McCourt, Kenji Gorre, Harry Beautyman (sub JJ Hooper 67), Alex Revell
Subs not used: David Cornell, Lewin Nyatanga, Emmanuel Sonupe, Marc Richards
Referee: Jeremy Simpson
Booked:
Coventry: Marvin Sordell (51), Gael Bigirimana (75), Chris McCann (80)
Cobblers: Brendan Moloney (34, 1st of the season), John-Joe O'Toole (43, 5th of the season), Jak McCourt (44, 1st), Harry Beautyman (62, 1st), David Buchanan (63, 2nd), Alex Revell (90, 2nd)
5 cautions on or before 30 November; 1 match suspension
10 cautions on or before 11 April; 2 match suspension
15 cautions at any time in season; 3 match suspension
Sent off:
Coventry 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.
Gabriel Zakuani, back from a minor ankle injury, replaced Lewin Nyatanga in the only change to the side that knocked Premier League side West Brom out of the EFL Cup in midweek. New loan signing and Cobblers returnee JJ Hooper, cup-tied for the game against the Baggies, was named on the bench.
Marcus Tudgay had a shot deflected behind in the opening ten minutes at the Ricoh while from the following corner Marvin Sordell headed straight at Adam Smith from less than five-yards.
Kenji Gorre fired just over from distance as the Cobblers started to get on top and it wasn’t long before they were in front.
Harry Beautyman opened the scoring on the half hour, starting and finishing the move with Matt Taylor providing the cut-back for Beautyman to finish from close range.
Adam Smith saved with his feet to deny Daniel Agyei before John-Joe O’Toole picked up his fifth yellow card of the season, incurring a one-match ban for the midfielder. Matt Taylor then went close to doubling the Cobblers lead in first half stoppage time when his goal bound free-kick was deflected behind.
As the second half got underway in torrential rain, Alex Revell flashed a header wide while Smith saved a Tudgay volley from 25-yards. Lawson D’Ath came on in the Cobblers first change, replacing the already booked O’Toole.
Coventry equalised on 63 minutes, substitute Jodi Jones crossing for Marcus Tudgay to head home.
JJ Hooper made his second debut for the Cobblers as Harry Beautyman made way with a shade over 20 minutes to play.
Jones was posing a real threat for Coventry and he went close to putting the home side in front with a shot from distance that landed on the roof of the net. Smith then made a good save one-on-one to deny the same player.
The Cobblers finished the 90 minutes strongly and Taylor was denied by a superb save from Reice Charles-Cook at close range with the rebound falling to Jak McCourt who put his shot over the bar. Six minutes of stoppage time followed but the game was to end all-square.
SHOTS ON TARGET: (5) 10
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (6) 12
CORNERS: (5) 10
FOULS: (9) 13
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (0) 2
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (5) 10
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (2) 7
CORNERS: (5) 8
FOULS: (9) 15
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (0) 1
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by Opta