The 2015/16 season got underway for Northampton, as it did the remainder of League 2 at the weekend, with this starting in victory at the Memorial Stadium against Bristol Rovers on Saturday, who were returning to the Football League after winning the play-off final in May.
A solitary goal was enough for the Cobblers as Chris Wilder’s side got off to a winning one-nil start.
The Cobblers had a chance to lead through Richards, usually so lethal, but he couldn’t take this with Bristol Rovers’ Taylor missing a chance having rounded Northampton’s debutant ‘keeper Smith.
O’Toole (49), against his former club as so often happens in football, scored the winner early in the second half when he headed home from close range.
Match highlights can be viewed below….
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The other results this weekend were as follows:-
Wimbledon 0-2 Plymouth
Accrington 1-1 Luton
Bristol Rovers 0-1 Northampton
Cambridge 3-0 Newport
Exeter 3-2 Yeovil
Hartlepool 2-0 Morecambe
Leyton Orient 2-0 Barnet
Mansfield 1-1 Carlisle
Oxford 1-1 Crawley
Portsmouth 3-0 Dagenham & Redbridge
Stevenage 0-2 Notts County
Wycombe 3-0 York
In the opening round of fixtures you can’t really read too much, if anything into this, and things aren’t likely to settle down for several weeks if not months and only around the end of the year, at best, can you gage more from the table really, correct? It goes without saying the Cobblers will be looking to be higher up this table than down it though!
Looking at these results the ones that stand out are the wins for Cambridge, Portsmouth and Wycombe, who – albeit after only one-match – share top spot in the league too….
All three recorded three-nil wins, Cambridge at the Abbey Stadium against Newport County, who have struggled in the main since Justin Edinburgh left to become boss of League 1 side Gillingham, with one of his former sides as a player Portsmouth also winning well.
Expectations are high at Fratton Park this season under former Chesterfield boss Paul Cook, he started with a comfortable Pompey win on the south coast with Wycombe showing there wasn’t a Wembley hangover from their play-off final defeat to Southend in May with a convincing win at Adams Park against York.
The Cobblers are back in action this midweek with the 1st round of the Capital One Cup taking place.
Northampton will entertain League 1 side Blackpool, even though they’re a division higher than the Cobblers I’m not so sure too many would view it as an ‘upset’ as such should this League Cup game at Sixfields be won!
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