Steve Guinan is back in the groove
Steve Guinan gave Cobblers boss Ian Sampson plenty of food for thought yesterday with a well-taken hat-trick in a comfortable win for the reserves.
The 34-year-old striker was in fine form as he completed an hour for the stiffs in their comprehensive 4-0 victory over a Southend United second string.
It was a substantially more productive game for the reserves than last week's at Nottingham Forest, in which three midfielders all picked up injuries.
As well as Guinan's goals, there were also encouraging performances from Stephen O'Flynn, who scored the fourth after some unselfish play by Michael Jacobs, and Courtney Herbert, who enjoyed a good game on the right of midfield before being substituted after 76 minutes.
American Seb Harris, playing centre-half alongside Sunderland triallist Joe Cornforth, can also be pretty pleased with how he performed.
Guinan was making a playing return after three months out following a hernia operation but showed no signs of any rustiness to open the scoring after only three minutes of play.
The former Hereford striker doubled his and the team's tally with a header from four yards half an hour later and then completed the treble by tapping in Herbert's cross.
Sampson is unlikely to stray too far from his current first-choice strike partnership of Adebayo Akinfenwa and Billy McKay, a duo who, despite not scoring against Darlington at the weekend, have plundered nine goals between them in their past seven games.
But Guinan should be on the bench for the visit of Morecambe and can now probably consider himself the third-choice striker on the books and a vital, experienced addition for the run-in.
Luke Guttridge did not feature in the game to protect his ankle injury for this weekend's clash, while fellow injury victims Andy Holt, John Curtis, Kevin Thornton and Chris Dunn were all kept out of the firing line.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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