PRE-SEASON FIXTURE
Wednesday July 19th, 7.45pm
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0
BIRMINGHAM CITY 1
Jordan James 30
Attendance: 2,540 (984 away supporters)
Cobblers: James Dadge, Sam Sherring, Louis Appere, Mitch Pinnock, Kieron Bowie, Will Hondermarck, Patrick Brough, Max Dyche, Trialist B, Trialist C, Trialist E
Subs: Lee Burge, Jack Sowerby, Ali Koiki, Akin Odimayo, Peter Abimbola, Trialist A, Trialist D, Trialist F, Trialist G, Trialist H
Birmingham:John Ruddy, Ethan Laird, Marc Roberts, Alfie Chang, Ivan Sunjic, Tyler Roberts, Scott Hogan, Keshi Anderson, Jordan James, Emmanuel Longelo, Kevin Long
Subs: Neil Etheridge, Brandon Khela, Juninho Bacuna, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Marcel Oakley, Siriki Dembele, Tate Campbell, Dion Sanderson, Zach Jeacock
Referee: Josh Smith
Northampton Town took on another Championship side as Birmingham City visited Sixfields on Wednesday night.
Jon Brady included three trialists in his starting XI while Ali Koiki, Jack Sowerby and Akin Odimayo were named on the bench.
Keshi Anderson, who had a loan spell with the Cobblers back in 2017, started for the Blues where he is currently on trial.
Anderson had an early set piece opportunity but his free-kick from 25-yards failed to test young Cobblers goalkeeper James Dadge while neither Scott Hogan or Tyler Roberts, on the stretch, could get a clean strike at goal following a deep cross into the box that was headed back across goal.
Louis Appere saw a 20-yard shot saved by John Ruddy before Birmingham broke the deadlock on the half-hour mark, Jordan James providing the finish to the lay-off from Emmanuel Longelo.
A headed goal line clearance from Mitch Pinnock prevented Mark Roberts doubling the visitors lead while for the Cobblers, who had been putting together some good passages of play, Kieron Bowie almost found Louis Appere after breaking clear of the Birmingham backline.
Bowie was clear again after latching onto a ball from Sam Sherring but his shot on the cusp of half-time was blocked by a defender.
Scott Hogan poked a shot just wide at the start of the second half while having been played in by Pinnock, Bowie was denied one-on-one by half-time substitute Blues keeper Neil Etheridge.
Sowerby, Koiki and Odimayo came on in a triple change before Dadge made saves from Lukas Jutkiewicz and Dion Sanderson to keep the scoreline at 1-0. Some alert defending from Max Dyche was also needed to deny another substitute Siriki Dembele.
The final twenty minutes passed without real incident but the game against strong opposition had proved another good work out for the Cobblers in the build up to the new season.
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (1) 2
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (1) 1
CORNERS: (0) 3
FOULS: (4) 7
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (0) 0
BIRMINGHAM MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (3) 9
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (1) 3
CORNERS: (3) 6
FOULS: (2) 4
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (2) 2