TOWN 1-1 Northampton Town - Armstrong strike earns Town a valuable point

Two quickfire goals early in the second-half saw Town play out a 1-1 draw at home to Northampton Town this evening.

After a quiet first-half the game sprang into the life with Mitch Pinnock firing the visitors ahead after forty-eight minutes only for Luke Armstrong to level a minute later.

Having got back into the game it was Town who looked the likelier of the two sides to take all three points but despite a couple of near misses couldn’t quite fashion the opportunity to come away victorious.

There was an enforced change for Town from the side that fell to defeat at Swindon on Saturday. Alex Pattison missed out through injury and was replaced by Danny Grant. Sam Folarin also returned to the bench.

For the visitors there were three changes to the team that returned to winning ways with a 1-0 win at Colchester at the weekend after four games without victory. Into the line-up came Aaron McGowan, Mitch Pinnock and former Town loanee William Hondermarck.

It proved to be a scrappy start to proceedings over the opening quarter of an hour with neither side managing to assert their authority on the game. Grant, restored to the side this evening, was looking the brightest option down the left-hand side for Town.

The game was woken from its slumber in the twenty-third minute when McGowan powered down the right-hand side to fire a shot at Mark Oxley’s goal from the edge of the area. Town’s keeper though could afford to watch the ball sail both high and wide beyond his goal.

One time Town-man Hondermark had an effective run towards the box just after the half-hour mark when he raced through the home defence. Only a last ditch tackle from Anthony O’Connor saw Town manage to clear the danger.

The best chance of the half fell to Town with ten minutes remaining in the first-half. A deep cross from Levi Sutton perfectly found the lively Grant but couldn’t manager to steer his effort on target t test Tom King in the Cobblers defence.

The start of the second-half brought with it steady rain that offered a slick surface for both sides to profit from. And Town were first to make their mark when Kazeem Olaigbe picked up a loose ball and fired at goal, but his shot fizzed a couple of yards over King’s crossbar.

Just a couple of minutes later Town were behind though. Pinnock, who switched flanks after the break, struck from outside the area with the ball taking a deflection off O’Connor that took it past Oxley to give the visitors the lead.

Town were behind for barely a minute though with Jack Muldoon persistence down the left paying when he squared into the box and Armstrong picked up the loose ball to hit low beyond King into the bottom corner.

Simon Weaver’s side were not content with being level as they pressed to get what would be a crucial lead. Fantastic link play from Levi Sutton and Toby Sims forced a corner in the front of the Aon Stand as momentum began to build.

A Grant cross then flashed across the six-yard box just beyond the advancing Armstrong and Josh Falkingham.
Olaigbe then went into the book for a robust challenge before the visitors made a pair of changes that saw Hondermarck and Appere replaced by DiMargio Wright-Phillips and Tete Yengi.

Armstrong, buoyed by his equalising goal, drove into the Cobblers box with fifteen minutes remaining and bore down on goal but good recovery work from the defence crowded him and the danger out.

A Pinnock free-kick was flicked on at the near post and there was a nervous moment as Sam Hoskins went down at the far post to signal a vociferous penalty shout. Referee Thomas Parsons was having none of it though and waved away the protests.

The visitors made their final change on eighty-five minutes when Josh Eppiah replaces Marc Leonard with neither side threatening the opposition goal over the final minutes.

TOWN: Oxley, Falkingham, Grant. Olaigbe, Sims, O’Connor, Sutton, Muldoon, Armstrong, Foulds, Eastman.

Substitutes: Giles, Burrell, Thomson, Angus, Folarin, McArdle, Dasly.

Booked: Olaigbe (61)

Goals: Armstrong (50)

Northampton Town: King, McGowan, Sowerby, Guthrie, Sherring, Hoskins, Appere (Yengi, 62) Pinnock, Leonard (Eppiah, 85), Koiki, Hondermarck (Wright-Phillips, 62).

Substitutes: Burge, Lintott, Haynes, Dyche.

Booked: Yengi (80)

Goals: Pinnock (48)

Referee: Thomas Parsons.

Attendance: 2,120.