Match Report |
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Northampton 4 Swansea City 2 | |
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Northampton 4 Swansea City 2 - Match Report by Peter and Bethan Charles
A game which we lost in a mad 20 mminutes opening spell, in which we were out-muscled and outfought by a physical and enterprising home team. An we were largely the architects of our own downfall as we seemed to approach the game in an almost casual manner, allowing our journeyman opponents to dominate possession and race into a deserved lead. We had a warning when Bayo laid the ball off to Jackman who hit a low drive on target, only for the ball to squirm from Dorus' grasp and behind for a corner. And then a minute later a fine cross was met by the head of Akinfenwa whose effort bounced off the underside of the bar. But our relief was shortlived as we conceded on 13 miuntes - aroutine corner kick knock down resulting in theball being driven home from short range by Hubertz. The Cobblers kept swarming forward, beating our midfiled to everything, and doubled their lead on 19 minutes - an excellent cross from Jones (who roasting Rangel at will) being deflected at full stretch by Tate into his own goal. A minute later the frustrated Tate was booked for a late challenge. And a minute after that we were three behind when a Northampton player appeared to fall to the ground after an innocuous challenge in the area - Hubertz converting the penalty with a fine low strike into the corner, just evading Dorus' grasp. Thereafter the shell-shocked Swans began to get into the game, gaining more possession and territory. An excellent through ball from Bodde sent Scotland through on goal on 29 minutes; his first effort was blocked but he converted the rebound to give us a lifeline. More Swans chances followed, with good efforts from Scotland and Butler - but we failed to get another breakthrough. At half time we replaced the ineffective Bauza and the unlucky Painter with Brandy and Pratley, switching to a 3-5-2 formation. There was a pivotal moment on 46 minutes when the home keeper skied a clearance into the path of Scotland no more than 12 yards out - a first time strike would probably have brought us within one gaol, but he tried to control and lost the chance. Then on 51 minutes we lost possession to Akinfenwa, who laid the ball off to the unmarked Jackman who exposed the lack of full back cover to score with a delightful chip. We had effectively gifted them the clincher. For the remainder of the half, Northampton crowded their defensive third and invited us to play through them. We had a good tilt at them, and forced a few half chances for Scotland and Robinson. A Bodde free kick brought a decent save from the home keeper and Scotland's persistence paid off with a neat finish on 85 minutes. Shortly after that some great work from Robinson set up a shooting chance for Pratley and his effort was parried clear at close range - a missed chance which might have set up a grandstand finish. We also had a couple of penalty shouts denied, but Northampton too had chances in this half, with several effort blazed high and wide. We could console ourselves that we had played most of the football in the game, and Northampton scored with four out of their five efforts on target. But it doesn't disguise the fact that we were seriously out-done by our poor defending, slowness to the ball and a general lack of physicality. The wheels could be coming off; the question is can we get them back on again. I wouldn't have chosen the Memorial Ground as the place to start...
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