Northampton Town v Exeter City
SKY BET LEAGUE 2
Saturday August 30th, 3.00pm
Sixfields
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 1
Marc Richards 89
EXETER CITY 0
Attendance: 4,053 (213 away fans)
Cobblers: Matt Duke, Ben Tozer, Gregor Robertson, Zander Diamond, Lee Collins (sub Lawson D'Ath 31), Chris Hackett, John-Joe O’Toole (sub Ricky Ravenhill 76), Joel Byrom, Kaid Mohamed, Emile Sinclair (sub Ivan Toney 49), Marc Richards.
Subs not used: Jordan Archer, David Moyo, Alex Nicholls, Connor Roberts.
Exeter: Christy Pym, Craig Woodman, Scot Bennett, Pat Baldwin, Liam Sercombe, Matt Oakley, Arron Davies, Matt Grimes, Matt Jay (sub Jimmy Keohane 59), David Wheeler (sub Aaron Dawson 74), Graham Cummins
Subs not used: James Hamon, Connor Riley-Lowe, Jordan Tillson, Jason Pope, Oliver Watkins
Referee: Mr M Bull
Booked:
Cobblers: Marc Richards (65, 1st of the season), Joel Byrom (69, 1st)
Exeter: Christy Pym (65), Arron Davies (85)
5 cautions on or before 30 November; 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
Exeter: 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.
Matt Duke, Chris Hackett and John-Joe O’Toole all came back into the Northampton Town side for the Sky Bet League 2 clash against Exeter City, who included in their line-up former Cobblers midfielder Arron Davies.
The Cobblers started the game brightly and were nearly ahead on 6 minutes, only for Exeter to somehow survive a goalmouth scramble with efforts from both Emile Sinclair and Joel Byrom blocked. Liam Sercombe drew a routine save from Duke in the Grecians first chance of the afternoon before David Wheeler did well to get the block on a Kaid Mohamed header.
Chris Wilder was forced into making a change just after the half hour after skipper Lee Collins picked up an injury, Lawson D’Ath his replacement while Zander Diamond took the captain's armband.
There was a moment of danger for Town on 43 minutes when Duke tipped over a cross that touched off Zander Diamond as the scoreline remained deadlocked going into half-time.
Ivan Toney came on for Emile Sinclair on 49 minutes and the young striker almost made an immediate impact, heading over a right-wing cross from Hackett.
Toney was then denied by the underside of the crossbar on 66 minutes, his bicycle kick striking the woodwork after Hackett’s corner was met by the head of Mohamed.
With the Cobblers now really starting to up the ante, Christy Pym made three good saves to thwart Toney, Mohamed and Hackett, the latter's long range effort was tipped round the post by the Grecians stopper.
Ricky Ravenhill then came on for O’Toole as the Cobblers continued to press.
The Cobblers pressure finally told on 89 minutes, Toney involved again as Marc Richards scored with an overhead kick to seal the three points in dramatic fashion.
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (2) 11
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (3) 6
CORNERS: (4) 12
FOULS: (5) 13
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (0) 0
EXETER MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (3) 3
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (4) 5
CORNERS: (2) 2
FOULS: (4) 10
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (2) 4
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by Opta