COBBLERS: Sammo relief at Dunn 'let-off'
Cobblers boss Ian Sampson felt Chris Dunn was lucky not to be sent off during Saturday's draw with Port Vale.
And his opposite number Micky Adams accused referee Mick Russell of 'trying to be everyone's mate' in the 1-1 draw at Sixfields. The game was a tale of three penalties, with Town being awarded two and Port Vale one.
Adebayo Akinfenwa missed one and scored one for the home side, with former Northampton favourite Marc Richards netting from the 12-yard mark for the Valiants.
But the controversy came when Russell sent off Vale defender John McCombe for his role in the third penalty, after only booking Tommy Fraser and Dunn for their indiscretions on the previous two.
It was a moment which altered the complexion of the game, although the Cobblers were still unable to end a winless league streak that dates back to October 24.
"I think it was a penalty and I think we got a little bit of luck with Chris (Dunn) not being sent off," said Sampson.
"Obviously that helped us in the game. I'm sure Port Vale will be aggrieved because our keeper has stayed on and their defender goes, so there was no consistency there really. Their man pulled Bayo back and it was definitely a penalty. If he should have gone then maybe our keeper should have gone as well."
Adams, who was the fourth player to score at Sixfields after the ground opened in October 1994, insisted he was disappointed with the result, and felt his team would have won comfortably had they not been reduced to 10 men.
Adams said: "I'm disappointed because the game totally turned on the sending-off.
"To get a point away from home is great but Northampton were there for the taking and we would have easily beaten them if we'd had 11 men on the pitch.
"Northampton had one chance from a corner kick and that was about it. We were containing them pretty comfortably, I felt.
"We were 1-0 up at half-time and at that stage of the game there was only ever going to be one winner.
"If he sends our man off he should have sent their keeper off for the foul in the first half. I think he tried to be everyone's mate when he should have just concentrated on doing his job properly."
Full match report and reaction in today's Chron
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Friday 10 February 2012
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