Action Replay

ACCRINGTON STANLEY 0 NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0

SKY BET LEAGUE 1 • SATURDAY FEBRUARY 6TH, 3.00PM • WHAM STADIUM

Shaun McWilliams and Danny Rose came back into the Northampton Town side for the trip to Accrington Stanley who went into the game only outside the top six on goal difference and with games in hand on their promotion rivals. Steve Arnold was named on the bench after recovering from injury but boss Keith Curle was still without Alan Sheehan, Mickel Miller and Scott Pollock.

Jack Sowerby forced Nathan Baxter into an early save after taking aim from 25-yards and Peter Kioso had a header tipped over from a corner in an encouraging opening ten minutes. Colby Bishop headed wide for Accrington before Fraser Horsfall went close with a deflected effort and Danny Rose, on the stretch, just failed to find the target. Dion Charles then found the side netting for the home side as a lively first half reached the midway point.

Cameron Burgess replaced Tariq Uwakwe in what looked like a tactical change for Accrington who survived a moment of danger when Baxter couldn’t hold on to a low cross from Joseph Mills but, with Ryan Edmondson lurking, the Stanley defence managed to clear. Referee Peter Wright waved away the Cobblers appeals for a penalty when Rose went down in the area and Sam Hoskins was almost in to score when he was played in by Edmondson following a swift counter-attack started by Kioso. They couldn’t however force the breakthrough before half-time despite having much the better of things in an entertaining first 45.

Baxter saved comfortably from Rose at the start of the second half as the Cobblers continued to press and probe looking for the goal their performance warranted.

Bryn Morris came on for Mills in the Cobblers' first change before a neat passage of play from Accrington lead to Colby Bishop shooting narrowly wide from 15-yards.

Adam Phillips had a shot blocked at close range while Joe Pritchard was maybe a little fortunate to escape with only a yellow card following a high challenge on Kioso. Pritchard failed to see out the full 90 however, the midfielder booked for a second time after another poor challenge, this time on Hoskins.

The Cobblers were pressing hard with Sowerby and Rose both going close but were unable to force the winner they deserved and instead had to settle for a very creditable away point.

We caused Accrington some problems today, particularly in the first half but we didn’t quite have enough to break the deadlock. “We got on the front foot from the start and that really set the tone for us. “Goals will come but if we don’t score it’s important we keep a clean sheet. “Defensively we were solid and we looked good going forward. You have to give Accrington some credit as well they got some good blocks in and defended well. KEITH CURLE

Nathan Baxter Michael Nottingham Mark Hughes Joe Pritchard Sean McConville Tariq Uwakwe (sub Cameron Burgess 27) Ben Barclay Colby Bishop Seamus Conneely Dion Charles Adam Phillips (sub Paul Smyth 80) Subs not used: Toby Savin, Jon Russell, Harvey Rodgers, Tom Scully, David Morgan

COBBLERS

Jonathan Mitchell Peter Kioso Lloyd Jones Cian Bolger Fraser Horsfall Joseph Mills (sub Bryn Morris 61) Shaun McWilliams Jack Sowerby Sam Hoskins (sub Mark Marshall 88) Danny Rose Ryan Edmondson (sub Ricky Korboa 82) Subs not used: Steve Arnold, Caleb Chukwuemeka, Ryan Watson, Michael Harriman

Referee: Peter Wright

ACCRINGTON MATCH STATS

(first half in brackets, match total out of brackets) SHOTS ON TARGET: (1) 1 SHOTS OFF TARGET: (2) 5 CORNERS: (4) 5 FOULS: (5) 10 CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (0) 0

COBBLERS MATCH STATS

(first half in brackets, match total out of brackets) SHOTS ON TARGET: (6) 9 SHOTS OFF TARGET: (3) 4 CORNERS: (9) 11 FOULS: (4) 9 CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (1) 2