Bradford City v Northampton Town
SKY BET LEAGUE 1
Tuesday November 22nd 2016, 7.45pm
Northern Commercials Stadium
BRADFORD CITY 1
James Hanson 56
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0
Attendance: 16,935 (243 Cobblers fans)
Bradford City: Colin Doyle, Stephen Darby, James Meredith, Nicky Law, Romain Vincelot, Mark Marshall, James Hanson, Josh Cullen (sub Rory McArdle 87), Marc McNulty (sub Jordy Hiwula 80), Haris Vuckic (sub Filipe Morais 67), Nathaniel Knight-Percival
Subs not used: Nathan Clarke, Daniel Devine, Matthew Kilgallon, Rouven Sattelmaier
Cobblers: David Cornell, Brendan Moloney, David Buchanan, Gabriel Zakuani, Rod McDonald, Jak McCourt (sub Raheem Hanley 67), Matt Taylor, Paul Anderson (sub Alfie Potter 87), Sam Hoskins (sub Marc Richards 67), John-Joe O’Toole, Alex Revell
Subs not used: Adam Smith, Kenji Gorre, Harry Beautyman, Aaron Phillips
Referee: Chris Sarginson
Booked:
Bradford City: Nicky Law (90)
Cobblers: John-Joe O'Toole (90, 9th of the season)
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:
Bradford City: 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.
With Zander Diamond (fractured cheekbone) and Lewin Nyatanga having picked up a knock in training, it was a new look centre-back pairing of Gabriel Zakuani and Rod McDonald for the Cobblers at Bradford City while David Cornell replaced Adam Smith in goal.
The Cobblers started brightly and Colin Doyle was called into action in the opening moments, saving a shot from Alex Revell.
James Hanson headed wide from 8-yards in the first chance of the night for Bradford while following a good spell of possession Revell just failed to connect with a dangerous-looking Matt Taylor cross.
A quick break from Town led to Sam Hoskins putting a shot just wide on 33 minutes before Cornell did well to touch behind an effort from Josh Cullen.
Bradford built up a head of steam as the game approached half-time but the Cobblers defence stood firm, Zakuani making a perfectly time tackle to take the ball off Marc McNulty, referee Christopher Sarginson turning down the home side’s appeals for a penalty.
The home side took the lead on 56 minutes, James Hanson with a powerful header from Mark Marshall’s cross.
Rob Page reacted by making a double change, bringing on Marc Richards and Raheem Hanley for Sam Hoskins and Jak McCourt.
The re-shuffle lifted the Cobblers and it took a terrific save from Colin Doyle to preserve the Bantams lead, Doyle somehow keeping out Revell’s header which looked destined for the bottom corner.
John-Joe O’Toole’s looping header on 85 minutes was flagged off-side in what looked a tight call before Revell fired wide and Alfie Potter replaced Paul Anderson in the final change of the night from Rob Page.
Cornell came out of his goal to deny Marshall in injury time as Bradford saw out five minutes of stoppage time without real incident to claim the three points.
BRADFORD MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (5) 12
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (6) 9
CORNERS: (7) 13
FOULS: (5) 10
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (2) 2
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (2) 3
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (4) 6
CORNERS: (0) 0
FOULS: (4) 15
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (0) 2
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by Opta