Ring Sting: Imps 2-1 Northampton Town

oplus_2

On Saturday, we saw a really good game of football, enjoyable, entertaining and full of excitement and good football.

Yesterday, we saw the evil twin of everything Saturday was. Do you remember that film from years ago, Twins, with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito, where the only real joke was how the two were so unalike even though they were twins? Our win against the Cobblers was Danny DeVito.

Both games were worth three points, though. Worth remembering as I plough on through the proceedings.

I guess the biggest thing to say here is it wasn’t a poor game in terms of incident and talking points – there was a lot happening, then a whole section where nothing happened, and then it fired back into life again. The game lurched along with moments that were really good, but it was all muddled, challenging at times and certainly giving Michael Skubala a lot to think about over the coming days.

The big call in terms of team selection was Montsma slipping to the bench for Tom Hamer, and the midfield trio I called before the game on a Patreon special video, suggesting Hamilton, Jeffries and McGrandles might work well. No real surprises there, but we didn’t have to wait long for a surprise.

The Cobblers came out swinging, and we looked shell-shocked. Tyler Roberts did two of our boys down the left flank and used his pace to get clear and feed Fosu.Β He’s a lad we wereΒ linked with once; after he left Charlton, it was us or Oxford, and he chose the latter.Β He’s been a menace since, playing well as we lost 6-0 to the Us and, on this occasion, giving them the lead within minutes. In fairness, the strike takes a horrible deflection to beat Wickens, but we’d been opened up like a tin of beans. He even had Mitch Pinnock to his right in acres of space had he decided not to shoot.

Huge credit to our fans after that, because the noise in the Coop Stand was louder than that made by the visiting supporters. It’s not a surprise, we had larger numbers, but there was a feeling that we’d just hit a setback, been sucker-punched and could go again. When Cadamarteri had his shot deflected wide moments after, I felt we’d be back in it quickly. Then Fosu got away and ended up firing wide, and I thought the game could be anything from 4-0 them to 3-3.

We rode the storm, and after 15 minutes, we had the first big turning point of the game, our leveller. It was massive to get back on terms as quickly as possible, and we’d had some luck putting balls into the box. I thought they looked susceptible, and when we got a corner on 17 minutes, I felt we’d do something with it. A relatively poor delivery, on the face of it, saw their lad almost slice into his own net, but it went just over. Go again, right? Damn right. This time, Reeco made no mistake with his delivery, and Tom Hamer strode in to get his second of the season.

Jon Brady was fuming about the goal, claiming Cadamarteri was impeding one of their players, but I’ve watched it back, and it would have been weak. We see so many free kicks given against players for pulling in the area at corners, but never penalties. Cadamarteri and Ben Fox are tussling, but at one point it is a yellow-shirted arm around our striker. Neither are near the ball when it goes in, either. Just to illustrate, two stills from the goal are provided below, and while they’re not exactly HD, you can see who is actually holding who.

 

 

 

 

 

We needed that to be a catalyst for change, and it really was. City suddenly eased into another gear, and while one or two weren’t on it, I felt we’d go on and get another before halftime. Ben House almost did – a hooked cross from Sean Roughan saw Ben clear, lifting the ball over the keeper and wheeling away, only for an outstanding clearance off the line from Jack Baldwin. In fairness, having watched it back, it wasn’t probably the world-saving clearance it looked like from the stands, but still, it was a chance.

There was a big moment on 35 minutes, but we didn’t know it at the time. Ethan Hamilton carried the ball out of defence, and hesitated on picking a pass. It’s maybe because of a lack of options, but it was one of those moments where fans got frustrated. Tyler Roberts got frustrated as well, because he caught Hamilton up, but instead of winning a tackle, he just barged him from behind, no thought of making a genuine attempt for the ball. It was a yellow in the referee’s book, a yellow in my book, but Jon Brady labelled it ‘soft’.

On the stroke of half time, it all began to go a bit wrong again, firstly for a Tom Hamer injury. Tom had done well – his throws were causing menace, and he’d generally looked composed, and I felt he’d been comfortable in possession, which could be said for everyone. However, after a spell on the turf he was taken off, resulting in a decent chunk of injury time. Lewis Montsma came on, perhaps a little earlier than we’d have liked, and before long, Northampton woke back up. After sleeping for a good half hour, they delivered a smart free kick into the box, forcing a good save from Wickens. They wanted the corner, but Sam Purkiss instead blew for half time.

The most challenging thing of the first half, for me, was our passing and ball retention. We looked unsure at times, often checking back when there was a chance to get forward. I thought Reeco looked hesitant in some situations, and the midfield three I thought would give us solidity did not. I know McGrandles got Man of the Match from the sponsors, but I felt at times the midfield just looked uneasy with the ball, and that unsettled some of the back five as well. The two it did not unsettle, again in my opinion, were Roughan and Darikwa. I genuinely think they’re our most consistent two players, and I cannot fathom how Roughan keeps getting relatively low marks on our player rater.

Darikwa put in two absolutely monster tackles to stop breaks, the sort of challenges that if you get them wrong, there’s a card, and it’s the sort of colour a bull chases you for. He was demanding better standards from those around him, yelling at those not putting the right passes together or making the right runs. At this stage of the campaign, almost a third of the way through, he’s head and shoulders above anyone in the hunt for Player of the Year, in my opinion. A long way to go, but there’s one player I wouldn’t want to lose, and it is him.

1 Trackback / Pingback

  1. SW Podcast 329 – Northampton Town, FA Cup and Theme Tunes | The Stacey West

Comments are closed.