Northampton Town v Tranmere Rovers
SKY BET LEAGUE 2
Saturday March 14th, 3.00pm
Sixfields
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 1
Ryan Cresswell 62
TRANMERE ROVERS 0
Attendance: 4,428 (281 away fans)
Cobblers: Matt Duke, Brendon Moloney, Ryan Cresswell, Lee Collins, Evan Horwood, Jason Taylor, Darren Carter, Lawson D’Ath, James Gray (sub Tom Newey 83), Ricky Holmes (sub Chris Hackett 69), John-Joe O’Toole (sub Ivan Toney 82).
Subs not used: Shwan Jalal, Billy Bodin, Zander Diamond, Ross Perry.
Tranmere: Owain Fon-Williams, Liam Ridehalgh, Max Power, Michael Ihiekwe, Kayode Odejayi, Danny Gardner, Janoi Donacien, Rob Taylor (sub Rory Donnelly 45), Steve Jennings (sub Chris Shuker 78), Jennison Myrie-Williams, Josh Thompson (sub Jordan Hugill 71)
Subs not used: Danny Holmes, Marc Laird, Adam Dugdale, Sam Ramsbottom
Referee: Mr G Salisbury
Booked:
Cobblers: Darren Carter (61, 4th of the season)
Tranmere: Jennison Myrie-Williams (61), Michael Ihiekwe (61)
10 cautions on or before 11 April; 2 match suspension
15 cautions at any time in season; 3 match suspension
Sent off:
Cobblers: none
Tranmere: 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.
John-Joe O’Toole replaced Ivan Toney in the Northampton Town side for the visit of Tranmere Rovers with new signing defender Ross Perry named on the bench.
On a cold afternoon at Sixfields Owain Fon-Williams saved an early shot from home debutant James Gray. The Rovers keeper then made another good stop to deny Ricky Holmes as the Cobblers again started a home game firmly on the front foot.
Josh Thompson headed wide from a Tranmere free-kick before, as the first half reached the mid-way point, a good run from Holmes ended in Fon-Williams making a terrific close range save.
Lawson D’Ath curled a shot against the top of the cross bar on 38 minutes after being played in by Darren Carter before O’Toole saw a shot saved by Fon-Williams. Jennison Myrie-Williams then raced clear for Tranmere only to go down in the area, the referee waving away Rovers penalty appeals.
As the Cobblers looked to up the tempo in the second half Fon-Williams saved from Gray while Ryan Cresswell went agonisingly close from a Darren Carter corner.
The breakthrough for Town came on 62 minutes and it was from a Carter free-kick, Ryan Cresswell powering home a header.
An injury to Ricky Holmes forced the Cobblers into making their first change of the afternoon with Chris Hackett coming on. Gray drove a shot just wide before Ivan Toney replaced O’Toole for the final ten minutes.
Matt Duke made a superb reflex save to keep out a bullet header from Rovers substitute Rory Donnelly late on as the Cobblers shut out the opposition to make it six successive Sixfields victories.
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (5) 11
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (4) 7
CORNERS: (4) 8
FOULS: (6) 12
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (0) 1
TRANMERE MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (2) 4
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (2) 3
CORNERS: (2) 6
FOULS: (9) 10
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (3) 5
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by Opta