Men’s 1s win in style!
Bedford 4-5 Men’s 1st XI
Goals: Dave Saunders, Stuart Clark (2), Christian Howard, Stephan Williams.
Saints made the trip over to Bedford off the back of a promising draw against National League outfit West Bridgford. Bedford enjoyed a very successful season last year, narrowly missing out on promotion so this was to be a stern test for the away team.
From the first whistle it was clear to that Bedford were going to press high and this caused the Northampton defence and midfield to turn the ball over several times. It didn’t take long before Bedford opened the scoring after a loose pass from Saints resulted in a quick counter and the first goal. Two more quickly followed including a penalty stroke to put Saints three down with only 20 minutes on the clock.
Despite conceding, Sam Browne looked very comfortable at centre back and Steve Williams and Ashley Smith worked well in the wing back role, closing down opposition midfielders and restricting their time and space.
A cramped midfield and loose turnovers prevented Saints from taking advantage of their share of possession however they did win a couple of short corners. Unfortunately nothing came of these and the first half ended 3-0 to Bedford.
The second half started very much the same and after a cheap turnover again in the Saints half, Bedford broke away and slotted the ball home to increase their lead to 4-0. This is where the game changed.
Saints started to play with a bit more width and moved the ball on a lot quicker. Dave Saunders pulled a goal back for Saints after some good work from Scott Mahoney and Christian Howard breaking quickly and directly. With Saunders and Howard also playing the wing back role, Northampton were able to torment the opposition full backs as they rotated well with Ben Northedge and Ashley Smith.
Stuart Clark enjoyed a lot of space on the Saints left and after turning the ball over a couple of times, made amends with a well taken finish from close range. 4-2.
Two minutes later Saints scored through Clark again as he drifted in from the left and fired the ball into the far corner. Saints were on a roll and Bedford could not get out of their half. With Sam Browne and Ian Cooper holding strong at centre back and Ben Northedge making some important tackles, Bedford were restricted to a few counter attacks throughout the seconds half.
As the game entered the final quarter Joe Kopka andDave Saunders combined on the left to give the left room to break up the pitch. Saunders cut inside and drilled a far post cross for a sliding Christian Howard to deflect into the goal. 4-4.
At this point in the match there was only going to be one winner. After Saints broke down the right the ball was crossed and then deflected over the defence for Stephan Williams to hammer home the winner from chest height. After a brief conversation the umpires awarded the goal and Saints had made an incredible comeback.
The game ended 5-4 to Northampton. Plenty to work on this weekend as Saints need to ensure their concentration is spot on from the starting whistle.
Captain Joe Kopka added, ‘when we play well, for instance in the second half, we play like Barcelona. When we play badly, we play like Grimsby.’
Grimsby have actually won two out of two since Saturday so the lads that played can’t be too disheartened!