SKY BET LEAGUE 2
Saturday March 18th, 3.00pm
Sixfields
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 1
Louis Appere 23
CREWE ALEXANDRA 0
Attendance: 5,673 (248 away fans)
Cobblers: Lee Burge, Harvey Lintott, Sam Sherring, Jon Guthrie, Ryan Haynes (sub Paul Osew 63), Marc Leonard, Jack Sowerby, Will Hondermarck (sub Peter Abimbola 90), Sam Hoskins (sub D'Margio Wright-Phillips 83), Louis Appere (sub Tete Yengi 83), Kieron Bowie (sub Mitch Pinnock 63)
Subs not used: Tom King, Tom Cartwright
Crewe: James Beadle, Kelvin Mellor, Rio Adebisi, Luke Offord, Courtney Baker-Richardson (sub Elliott Nevitt 59), Callum Ainley (sub Matius Holicek 76), Dan Agyei, Connor O’Riordan, Charlie Colkett (sub Conor Thomas 72), Lachlan Brook (sub David Amoo 76), Joel Tabiner
Subs not used: David Richards, Regan Griffiths, Sean Lawton
Referee: Andrew Kitchen
Booked:
Cobblers: Will Hondermarck (89)
Crewe: none
Sent off:
Cobblers: none
Crewe: none
Jon Brady was dealt a further injury blow ahead of the visit of Crewe Alexandra with Max Dyche (ankle) having been added to the growing number of absentees. Kieron Bowie came into the side in place of Dyche while Mitch Pinnock was back on the bench where he was joined by defender Tom Cartwright from the club’s academy.
In total ten players were unavailable for selection, nine due to injury while Aaron McGowan served the final game of his three-match ban.
After a fairly quiet opening twenty minutes, the Cobblers went agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock, Sam Hoskins' shot cannoning off the underside of the cross bar.
Not long after that the breakthrough came courtesy of Louis Appere, the Scotsman volleying home at the far post after a cross in from Hoskins.
A goalmouth scramble briefly lead the Cobblers to believe they had a second goal but James Beadle was adjudged to have made the save before the ball crossed the line. Subsequent replays proved inconclusive.
Hoskins, on the cusp of 20 goals for the season, shot just wide following a well-worked corner routine and Beadle made a good save from Will Hondermarck as the Cobblers continued to press hard for a second goal before half-time.
Beadle palmed away a Jack Sowerby shot from range as the clock ticked past the hour mark. Paul Osew came onto make his debut in a double change which also saw the introduction of Mitch Pinnock with Ryan Haynes and Kieron Bowie making way.
Sowerby tested Beadle again with a drilled strike from 25-yards that had to be tipped over by the Crewe keeper while a vital interception from Osew denied the Alex a chance to equalise.
Hoskins strike from the edge of the area drew another save from Beadle before the Cobblers top goalscorer was substituted in a double change with Louis Appere whose first half goal proved enough for the Cobblers to clinch all three points.
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (7) 11
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (2) 2
CORNERS: (0) 8
FOULS: (4) 9
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (0) 1
CREWE MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (0) 0
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (0) 3
CORNERS: (0) 0
FOULS: (2) 7
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (0) 3