COBBLERS!

Sometimes I wonder why I bother, I really do. A third of my weekly allowance went into watching that inept performance last night and I probably put more effort into getting to the Sixfields Stadium than

Run of six unbeaten was ended last night

That match will go down on my list of incompetent performance along with the likes of Huddersfield, Southport, and more recently, Mansfield.

Notts looked totally devoid of ideas for the entire match and even trying to complete passes to players in the same coloured shirt as them seemed a demanding task for the Magpies at times and as a result were few and far between. Actually that statement isn’t strictly true. We got many little passing moves going especially in the first half, but the trouble was that not many of them actually went anywhere that would cause some danger to the Cobbler’s side. The majority in fact were performed along the Notts backline.

I would try and tell you about some of the chances Notts had in front of goal, but quite frankly there were none apart from a weak shot from Stallard early in the first half and attempts by Baraclough and Hackworth that were easily saved by home keeper, Lee Harper.

Notts seemed to think that the Northampton defence would let them walk the ball into the net. Which, I’m afraid, isn’t generally the case unless, that is, you were the Notts defence last night.

Notts haven’t conceded a lot of goals in recent weeks but the ones

Got the first goal

Derek Asamoah, who also scored in the match at Meadow Lane earlier this season, scored the first as he picked up on a careless pass from Ian Richardson. The sharp winger ran straight through the middle of Nick Fenton and Richardson before firing a shot into the far corner of Mildenhall’s goal. Fingers were being pointed left, right and centre from the Notts defence, but it made no difference they were still 1-0 down.

HALF TIME: 1-0

I was left thinking about what I could have been doing rather than watching that dross. I came to the conclusion that another one of Billy’s half time teamtalks might do them some good and they would come out guns blazing in the second period – they did anything but.

The lax passing was again evident in the Notts side and it was clear that the magic had worn off the half time talk and it was almost inevitable that Northampton would get a second.

The Magpies could have conceded that goal straight after the break but instead on-loan striker Lawrie Dudfield failed to score from just 3 yards.

Picked up a strain

Ian Baraclough came on to replace Paul Bolland after an hour. I later found out that Bolland had picked up a strain.

Liburd and then Baraclough had chances to narrow the score margin for Notts but both players efforts were easily gathered by Harper, who was never called into any sort of significant action throughout the match.

Tony Hackworth then came on for the last ten minutes in place of Simon Ramsden as Notts looked to salvage something from the game.

Instead Northampton went down the other end and scored their second of the game and wrapped up 3 more vital points in their bid to beat the drop.

Wrapped up the points for the Cobblers

Now I've finished my little rant, I think its about time I came out and openly admitted that it’s probably partly down to my actions that we lost yesterday. What could I have done that warranted such a poor result? I hear you cry. Sat down before kick-off is the answer. It is one of my many sad superstitions that I have; I must never sit down before the teams have taken their places on the field but last night I couldn’t resist checking the view from my seat at about 7 o'clock.

So sorry folks… I promise I won’t do it again at Swindon on Saturday! I’ve learnt my lesson now.