Morecambe 1-1 Northampton Town
League Two
Saturday, March 22nd 2014
Another game down but no closer to safety do we go with the positives coming out of the eked out draw with Morecambe all coming down to the fact that it got no worse for the Cobblers. We seem to be completely stuck on the final pull out of the hole that we’ve made for ourselves in the first half of the season and despite good results of late we’re missing the cutting edge needed to make that final break for freedom.
We had a big, big chance to sit with the pack just above the bottom two here with the Cobblers a goal up thanks to Andrew Wright’s wild slice into his own net from an Emile Sinclair cross and you had a sense that with moments like that coupled with an early smacking of the post by Morecambe’s Padraig Amond made you think that maybe it may just be our day.
But the second half saw Town struggle to get into a groove or go for a second goal that would have killed off a home side still hurting from a hammering at Accrington on Tuesday night. Jamie Devitt sent out a warning shot with a lob that settled above the net rather than in it whilst Matt Duke produced a fine save to keep out Kevin Ellison from a free kick.
With fifteen minutes to play, though, the killer blow was struck and a deserved equaliser found the back of Duke’s net. Substitute Jack Redshaw skilfully set up Amond who made no mistake this time to level the scores. Sinclair missed a chance to immediately reply and won a flurry of late corners but couldn’t find the break through meaning that three massive points became one frustrating one and there’s still so much work to be done.
One of the key problems is still the lack of fire power at the top end of the pitch. Alan Connell and Emile Sinclair each bring something different to what we had before and have had moments of real quality but when it comes to just plain and simple goal getting I feel like we still need something more from them in these final eight games. The midfield also has to play their part and take some chances going forwards – goals are essentially going to keep us in this division and we have to be daring and take some chances in more ways than one.
We’re quite simply making the final rolls of the dice this week as Wimbledon and Bury come to town and if we’re not at least level on points with whoever occupies 22nd spot come 5pm on Saturday then we’re in big, big trouble. One way or another, things will be unravelling big time by then.
Roll the dice, Cobblers…we need it now more than ever before.
A Load Of Cobblers 