NPOWER LEAGUE 2
Saturday August 18th, 3.00pm
Spotland
ROCHDALE 0
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0
Attendance: 2,558 (away fans not confirmed)
Rochdale: Josh Lillis, Peter Cavanagh, Ryan Edwards, Jason Kennedy, Andrew Tutte, George Donnelly (sub Ray Putterill 76), Phil Edwards, Kevin McIntyre, Dele Adebola, Matt Pearson, Ashley Grimes.
Subs not used: Joe Rafferty, Brain Barry-Murphy, Rhys Bennett, Craig Curran, Ian Craney, Ben Smith.
Cobblers: Lee Nicholls, John Johnson, Joe Widdowson, Kelvin Langmead, David Artell, Chris Hackett, Ben Tozer, Luke Guttridge (sub Henoc Mukendi 66), Ben Harding, Clive Platt, Alex Nicholls.
Referee: Mr T Harrington
Booked:
Rochdale: Phil Edwards (68)
Cobblers: Chris Hackett (89, 1st of the season)
5 cautions on or before 31 December; 1 match suspension
10 cautions on or before 11 April; 2 match suspension
15 cautions at any time in season; 3 match suspension
Sent off:
Rochdale: none
Cobblers: none
Sendings off: 2 cautions in one game; 1 match suspension but cautions do not count towards above totals. Other sendings off; 1 or 3 match suspension. Extra match ban for additional sendings off.
Northampton Town began their 2012/13 npower League Two campaign with a trip to Rochdale.
Lee Nicholls, on-loan from Wigan Athletic, replaced Dean Snedker in goal while new signing striker Louis Moult was named among the substitutes. Joe Widdowson and Clive Platt both lined up against their former club.
The Cobblers, in their all new lime green away strip, started brightly with Chris Hackett firing just over from the edge of the area.
A good counter attack by Rochdale on the half hour almost set up a chance for George Donnelly, John Johnson doing well to get back and head behind for a corner.
Ashley Grimes rattled the outside of the post with a shot from an acute angle. Phil Edwards flashed a shot wide for the home side in first half stoppage time.
Kelvin Langmead headed straight at Josh Lillis at the start of the second half. The Cobblers were enjoying a good spell of pressure on the Rochdale goal, forcing a plethora of set plays.
Aidy Boothroyd's first change saw Henoc Mukendi replace Luke Guttridge. Lee Nicholls then did well to save at the feet of Dele Adebola as the clock ticked past the 70-minute mark at Spotland.
Chris Hackett delivered a pin-point cross for Alex Nicholls but the former Walsall man couldn't direct his header on target.
That proved to be the last real chance of the afternoon and for the third time in the last five seasons the Cobblers opening day fixture ended goalless.
ROCHDALE MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (2) 8
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (6) 12
CORNERS: (5) 9
FOULS: (2) 11
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (1) 1
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (1) 6
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (2) 6
CORNERS: (6) 10
FOULS: (5) 8
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (3) 5
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by the Press Association.