The Northampton Town Football and Education Programme Development squad lost 2-0 at home to Aston Villa in the EFL Community & Education Football Alliance League Central 2 on Wednesday afternoon.
Both sides were denied by the crossbar in the opening quarter-of-an-hour. Harry Cowley hit the top of the bar with a volley from inside the area, before an attacker headed against the underside of the bar at the other end.
The Cobblers survived a period of sustained pressure at the beginning of the second half and began creating opportunities after the hour mark.
Abdul Maxammed was beaten to Cowley’s square pass by a covering defender, and the ‘keeper sprinted towards his own goal to clear a loose back-pass off the line.
Aston Villa broke the deadlock going into the final 10 minutes when a cutback was finished in the middle.
The Cobblers responded with substitute Will Mattison almost reaching Cowley’s ball across the face of goal and Giancarlo Mercuri firing narrowly over from long range late on.
However, an attacker placed into the far bottom corner in added time to double the visitors’ lead and end any hopes of a Cobblers comeback.
Cobblers: Oskar Gajewski, Joel Adjekum, Zack Kirk-Bates, Jay Hudson, Reece Lineham, Ollie Galbraith, Nialls Gilmour, Harry Cowley, Giancarlo Mercuri, Leo Wiles, Abdul Maxammed
Substitutes: Jonny Vallance, Will Mattison
