Fleetwood Town v Northampton Town
SKY BET LEAGUE 1
Saturday February 25th, 3.00pm
Highbury
FLEETWOOD TOWN 3
Devante Cole 44
Bobby Grant 56
David Ball 59
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0
Attendance: 3,361 (400 Cobblers fans)
Fleetwood: Alex Cairns, Conor McLaughlin, Amari’i Bell, Ashley Eastham, David Ball, Bobby Grant, Cian Bolger, George Glendon (sub Victor Nirennold 67), Kyle Dempsey (sub Cameron Brannagan 80), Ben Davies, Devante Cole (sub Ashley Hunter 71)
Subs not used: Chris Neal, Elohor Godswill Ekpolo, Markus Schwabl, Joe Maguire
Cobblers: Adam Smith, Neal Eardley, David Buchanan, Zander Diamond, Lewin Nyatanga, Matt Taylor (sub Jak McCourt 82), John-Joe O’Toole, Gregg Wylde (sub Hiram Boateng 60), Keshi Anderson, Marc Richards (sub Paul Anderson 65), Michael Smith
Subs not used: Gabriel Zakuani, Harry Beautyman, Aaron Phillips, David Cornell
Referee: Andy Haines
Booked:
Fleetwood: Ashley Hunter (78)
Cobblers: Zander Diamond (74, 5th of the season), Jak McCourt (89, 5th)
10 cautions on or before 11 April; 2 match suspension
15 cautions at any time in season; 3 match suspension
Sent off:
Fleetwood: 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.
Keshi Anderson came back into the Cobblers side for the trip to in-form Fleetwood. Hiram Boateng dropped to the bench.
The Cobblers started brightly and twice went close to breaking the deadlock in the opening quarter of an hour. First Michael Smith struck a shot against the crossbar while it took a tremendous save from Alex Cairns to keep out a half-volley from Marc Richards.
Fleetwood responded with their own spell of pressure but some good defending from Zander Diamond denied the home side a real sight at goal.
Set-piece specialist Matt Taylor struck a superb free-kick that missed the target by inches with Cairns beaten as the game moved beyond the half hour mark. Smith then shot wide when well-placed in front of goal as the Cobblers continued to create chances at a blustery Highbury Stadium.
It was the home side who took the lead though, Devante Cole capitalising on a defensive mix-up to score from an acute angle after initially being denied by a goal line clearance from David Buchanan.
Bobby Grant doubled Fleetwood’s lead on 56 minutes, beating a number of players on a run into the box before unleashing a shot past Adam Smith.
David Ball then made it 3-0 with a neat lob over the Cobblers goalkeeper.
Hiram Boateng replaced Gregg Wylde in the Cobblers first change and a few minutes later Paul Anderson came on for Marc Richards.
Smith made a good save to prevent Cole from adding a fourth, diving at the feet of the striker.
The Cobblers continued to press despite the scoreline, Michael Smith seeing an effort blocked and Boateng firing wide but there was no way back.
FLEETWOOD MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (4) 6
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (1) 5
CORNERS: (2) 5
FOULS: (4) 8
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (2) 3
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (1) 6
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (4) 5
CORNERS: (4) 4
FOULS: (7) 11
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (0) 0
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by Opta