Northampton Town v Scunthorpe United
SKY BET LEAGUE 2
Saturday September 7th, 3.00pm
Sixfields
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 1
Clive Platt 78
SCUNTHORPE UNITED 1
Niall Canavan 67
Attendance: 4,132 (406 away fans)
Cobblers: Matt Duke, Kevin Amankwaah (sub Ben Tozer 77), Matt Heath, Lee Collins, Joe Widdowson, Chris Hackett, Gary Deegan, Darren Carter, Danny Emerton (sub Jacob Blyth 53), Clive Platt, Roy O’Donovan.
Subs not used: Ben McNamara, Ivan Toney, JJ Hooper, Matty Harriott.
Scunthorpe: Sam Slocombe, Christian Ribiero (sub Terry Hawkridge 18), Andy Dawson, Sean McAllister, David Mirfin, Niall Canavan, Matt Sparrow, Chris Iwelumo, Etienne Esajas (sub James Spencer 71), Eddie Nolan, Sam Winnall (sub Deon Burton 88).
Subs not used: Andy Welsh, James Severn, Luke Waterfall, Callum Howe.
Referee: Mr Sebastian Stockbridge
Booked:
Cobblers: Gary Deegan (24, 4th of the season), Chris Hackett (89, 2nd)
Scunthorpe: Matt Sparrow (22), Andy Dawson (69)
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:
Cobblers: none
Scunthorpe: 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.
Joe Widdowson, Danny Emerton, Roy O’Donovan and Clive Platt all came back into the side with Ishmel Demontagnac suspended and Jacob Blyth, Ben Tozer and Matty Harriott starting the game on the bench. Also named among the substitutes was new goalkeeper Ben McNamara.
Scunthorpe started the game on the offensive with Etienne Esajas firing an early shot just over. Sam Winnall then saw a low shot comfortably saved by Northampton Audi’s August Player of the Month Matt Duke.
Niall Canavan spurned a good opportunity on 14 minutes, failing to convert from a perfectly delivered Matt Sparrow free-kick.
As the Cobblers worked their way back into the game, Platt glanced a header just wide. With Town ending the first half on top, O’Donovan saw an effort blocked with Platt's follow up cleared off the goal line following a poor clearance by Sam Slocombe.
Winnall drew a good low save from Duke on 53 minutes before Jacob Blyth replaced Danny Emerton.
An inch-perfect cross from Chris Hackett found Blyth on 63 minutes but the on-loan Leicester City striker headed narrowly wide. Gary Deegan then went close with a fierce drive as the Cobblers enjoyed a good spell of pressure on the Scunthorpe goal.
It was the Iron though who took the lead against the run of play, Niall Canavan heading home from a Matt Sparrow corner.
Sam Slocombe made a good one-handed save to deny O’Donovan on 74 minutes with Hackett’s follow-up header straight at the Iron keeper.
The Cobblers equalised on 78 minutes, Clive Platt showing terrific strength and then composure to latch on to a ball from Carter before finishing low past Slocombe.
With the Cobblers pressing hard, a corner from Hackett missed everybody before hitting the back post and bouncing away to safety. Slocombe then made a good low save to keep out a skimmer of a shot from Darren Carter. The Cobblers couldn’t quite force a late winner though as the game ended all square.
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (2) 9
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (2) 6
CORNERS: (3) 6
FOULS: (7) 16
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (6) 6
SCUNTHORPE MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (5) 10
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (3) 6
CORNERS: (1) 7
FOULS: (4) 9
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (1) 2
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by Opta.