The Northampton Town Football and Education Programme Development squad suffered a defeat at home to Shrewsbury Town in the EFL Community & Education Football Alliance League Central 2 on Wednesday afternoon.
The Cobblers started well and opened the scoring early on when Tom Lewis hit the inside of the post with a placed shot and Jahmai Akande finished the close range rebound.
Leo Wiles’ effort from the edge of the box midway through the first half seemed destined for the bottom corner, but Abdul Maxammed inadvertently blocked the ball on the line.
The visitors equalised against the run of play with a far post header from a corner 10 minutes before the break, but the Cobblers restored their lead soon after when Wiles closed down the ‘keeper and Lewis slotted past the covering defender.
The first opportunity of the second period fell to Shrewsbury, Jonny Vallance diving to his left to push away a lofted strike following a ball over the top of the defence.
The visitors turned the game on its head with two goals in as many minutes on the hour mark, a forward finishing low on the turn before a teammate found the back of the net from the edge of the area.
An attacker ran onto a chip towards the back post and volleyed into the roof of the net to double the lead going into the last quarter-of-an-hour.
Akande nodded Wiles’ corner home at the near post to add his second goal and halve the deficit late on, but three quickfire strikes ended the Cobblers’ fightback.
Cobblers: Jonny Vallance, Ollie Galbraith, Dean Strachan, Joel Adjekum, Leo Wiles, Tom Lewis, Jahmai Akande, Abdul Maxammed, Josiah McWilliams, Zack Kirk-Bates, Nialls Gilmour
Substitutes: Billy Panter, Will Mattison, Giancarlo Mercuri, Reece Lineham, Leo Napodano