Oxford United v Northampton Town
SKY BET LEAGUE 2
Tuesday April 14th, 7.45pm
Kassam Stadium
OXFORD UNITED 1
Alex MacDonald 90
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 1
Ivan Toney 39
Attendance: 4,836 (610 Cobblers fans)
Oxford: Jamie Ashdown, Joe Skarz, Johnny Mullins, Jake Wright, Danny Hylton, Josh Ruffels, Callum O'Dowda (sub Danny Rose 62), Michael Collins (sub Alex MacDonald 76), Sam Long, Kyle Vassell (sub James Roberts 69), Kemar Roofe.
Subs not used: Ryan Clarke, Josh Ashby, Sam Humphries, Chey Dunkley
Cobblers: Shwan Jalal, Brendon Moloney, Zander Diamond, Lee Collins, Evan Horwood, Lawson D’Ath, John-Joe O’Toole, Joel Byrom, Ricky Holmes (sub Ben Tozer 87), Diego De Girolamo (sub Chris Hackett 74), Ivan Toney (sub Marc Richards 79)
Subs not used: Matt Duke, Darren Carter, Ross Perry, James Gray
Referee: Mr B Malone
Booked:
Oxford: none
Cobblers: Ivan Toney (45, 9th of the season), Evan Horwood (57, 6th)
15 cautions at any time in season; 3 match suspension
Sent off:
Oxford: 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 made the short trip to Oxford without the suspended duo of Ryan Cresswell and Jason Taylor but with leading goalscorer Marc Richards, back from his Achilles injury, among the substitutes. Shwan Jalal made his debut in goal while Ricky Holmes (knee) returned to the side.
Ivan Toney had a shot deflected behind early on, O’Toole heading wide from the subsequent Lawson D’Ath corner.
The game was then held up for around three minutes as the Oxford groundsman had to make some running repairs to the Kassam Stadium pitch.
Johnny Mullins blocked a shot from O’Toole following a good cross from Brendon Moloney while from an Evan Horwood cross Zander Diamond headed wide.
The deadlock was broken on 39 minutes and it was Chris Wilder’s side who deservedly took the lead, Ivan Toney scoring with a drilled free-kick from just outside the U’s penalty area.
Oxford looked a lot brighter at the start of the second half and could have equalised had anyone been there to get on the end of Sam Long’s incisive cross. Danny Hylton fired a shot into the side netting before Toney went close to scoring a second, his shot just bending away at the far post.
Chris Hackett came on against his former club for the final 15 minutes, Diego De Girolamo making way. Marc Richards then made a welcome return to action, coming on for Toney.
O’Toole did well to deny Long in front of goal on 86 minutes before Ben Tozer replaced Ricky Holmes in the Cobblers final change of the night.
Oxford equalised in stoppage time through Alex MacDonald, the former Burton man firing inside the far post.
OXFORD MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (1) 4
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (2) 4
CORNERS: (2) 6
FOULS: (8) 12
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (1) 1
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (3) 4
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (4) 6
CORNERS: (3) 3
FOULS: (4) 9
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (0) 1
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by Opta