SKY BET LEAGUE 1
Saturday December 16th, 3.00pm
Sixfields
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 2
Chris Long 4, 41
WALSALL 1
Erhun Oztumer 2
Attendance: 5,055 (394 away fans)
Cobblers: David Cornell, Brendan Moloney, David Buchanan, Ash Taylor, Aaron Pierre, Lewis McGugan (sub Ryan McGivern 90), Matt Grimes, Matt Crooks, Sam Foley, John-Joe O’Toole, Chris Long (sub Regan Poole 90)
Subs not used: Luke Coddington, George Smith, Marc Richards, Billy Waters, Shaun McWilliams
Walsall: Mark Gillespie, Luke Leahy, Jon Guthrie, Adam Chambers, Florent Cuvelier (sub Joe Edwards 22), Erhun Oztumer, Keiron Morris (sub Daniel Agyei 65), James Wilson, Liam Kinsella (sub Nicky Devlin 82), Zeli Ismail, Amadou Bakayoko
Subs not used: Simeon Jackson, Reece Flanagan, Kory Roberts, Brandon Ganley
Referee: Mr Charles Breakspear
Booked:
Cobblers: Sam Foley (64, 2nd of the season), Matt Grimes (79, 6th), Matt Crooks (81, 4th)
Walsall: Joe Edwards (71), Daniel Agyei (77)
10 cautions on or before 37 games; 2 match suspension
15 cautions at any time in season; 3 match suspension
Sent off:
Cobblers: Matt Crooks (90)
Walsall: Amadou Bakayoko (90)
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.
Lewis McGugan, John-Joe O’Toole and Aaron Pierre all came into the side as boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink made three changes for the visit of Walsall. Matt Ingram (shoulder), Sam Hoskins (ankle), Daniel Powell (hamstring), Alex Revell (groin) and Aaron Phillips (thigh) remained sidelined. Brendan Moloney made his 100th appearance for the club.
Walsall took an early lead, Amadou Bakayoko capitalising on a defensive error before setting up Erhun Oztumer.
It was a frantic start and the Cobblers were quickly back on level terms, Chris Long with a follow-up header after Mark Gillespie had initially denied O’Toole. Sam Foley’s cross created the chance.
Zeli Ismail failed to find the target when well-placed in front of goal while at the other end Walsall survived a penalty appeal for what looked like a push on O’Toole.
Chris Long fired the Cobblers in front on 41 minutes, his second of the afternoon a sweet low strike from just inside the area.
McGugan had a shot deflected behind at the start of the second half with the Cobblers not content to sit back on their one goal lead.
Gillespie saved a curling free-kick from Matt Grimes and Long, on a hat-trick, had a shot blocked at close range as the game neared the final ten minutes.
Amadou Bakayoko was shown a straight red card in stoppage time for a horrendous challenge on Sam Foley and the Cobblers were also down to ten men when Matt Crooks was shown a second yellow card. There was little action after that and the Cobblers saw out the remainder of injury time to return to winning ways.
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (4) 9
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (0) 1
CORNERS: (0) 5
FOULS: (5) 13
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (0) 1
WALSALL MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (3) 4
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (3) 4
CORNERS: (1) 2
FOULS: (9) 14
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (1) 1