A sunny evening in Northampton. The venue : Sixfields Stadium, home of Northampton Town FC, and another charity game. And the Town stewards took charity a bit too far in not punishing an ordinary first half by scoring more goals. Yes, we hit the post and forced Matt Heywood in the Town goal into a copuple of good saves, but the Town stewards team should have been 3 or 4 up before half time. They scored 1, which could have been saved had ADG been a few inches taller, hit the bar, and Graham Druce pulled off some fine saves. That said, there were excellent performances from the back four (except at left back, where there were some alarming gaps at times), especially Terry Pearson who 'put himself about' a bit. A revelation, and showed his improvement over the weeks at training. The midfield chased & harried, but we were lightweight up front. The video of the first half is best watched on fast forward. The goal came despite Graham diving at the feet of the Town midfielder Adam Walton just outside the box, but Walton recovered to chip over Graham, and into the goal despite a despairing dive by ADG. A bit more contact and the ball would have gone wide, but it was deserved reward for the amount of Town pressure. Soon after, MK supremo Tanner replaced McGahan with cameron Gascoyne in an attempt to put some pressure on the Town back four, who looked to be susceptible to a bit of speed and control, two things that we failed to exhibit. Not long afterwards, Chris Styles produced his fastest burst of the day when he was replaced by McGahan. And watch the video nasty of Philip Shamamba. 'nuff said.
Wholesale changes were made at half time, all of the back four and part of the midfield making way to those chomping at the bit on the sidelines. With Tanner and Cam up top, a midfield of Allen, Whelan and newboy Pinder, Trantum in his holding role in front of the back four of Beacock, Spiers, Edmonds and Santo, Graham carried on in goal. Suddenly, there was solidity all over the pitch, the ball started to stick when passed to a player, and Cam's runs through were rewarded. On 50 minutes came the turning point of the match. Newboy Craig Allen glided through to hammer home an exquisite shot, and the rout began. 0-1 soon became 1-6, as Tanner grabbed two, one hiighly debatable as to whether it crossed the line before Cam put the ball in on the follow-up, and Cam helped himself to a hat-trick. Nick Pinder (another new boy) talked himself into a harsh red card, he can tell the story. Poor defending from a free kick allowed Town to double their tally, Adam Walton heading back across goal and in off the (unguarded !) post. There was time for Tanner to share the match ball with Cam by gracing us with his third goal, before the final whistle and a much-needed beer.
The comedy highlight of the day ? Either :
When Jordan (now playing in goal having subbed off Graham prior to the second Town goal) threw the ball straight out of play. He managed to get cramp in both legs, and calls to the sideline for help went unanswered. Why ? Because Graham had gone & got changed.
Or :
When Philip managed to face plant himself whilst running after the ball. Has to be seen.
Or :
Calls from the touchline to Robin that 'they've gone 3-4-3' when Robin was standing with 3 forwards around him. And again 5 minutes later. And again during the Jordan injury.
