Bowie the last-gasp hero as Cobblers snatch win at Crawley

Hoskins’ first-half double turned things around after an early setback in West Sussex and had his side 2-1 ahead going into half-time, and at that stage the scoreline was a fair reflection of an impressive and controlled away performance from Northampton.

But Crawley responded with a strong second-half showing and they were the team who appeared more likely to win it after James Balagizi had added to his earlier strike with an equaliser to make it 2-2.

However, Hoskins capped off a memorable evening on a personal note by speeding away on the right in stoppage-time and finding Bowie in the middle and he took a fantastic first touch before dispatching into the roof of the net to snatch all three points.

Cobblers did not win from a losing position all of last season but it has taken them just four games to do that this time around, and whilst a draw would have been a fairer result after a topsy-turvy, entertaining encounter, Bowie showed the value of having extra firepower on the bench.

It seems Jon Brady's side are no longer the stingy, low-scoring team from last season and their new approach of free-flowing in attack and suspect at the back is so far proving fruitful. Town have won three of their first four games are now level on points with three other teams at the top of Sky Bet League Two.

Jack Sowerby missed out at Crawley due to a knock and Danny Hylton dropped to the bench so Ben Fox and Marc Leonard came in for their first league starts as manager Jon Brady made two changes from the weekend.

Crawley came into the game without a goal in the league this season but they rectified that after just four minutes. Ashley Nadesan and Tom Nichols overloaded Cobblers on the right and the latter crossed for Balagizi in the penalty box and he duly tucked the ball away.

The visitors responded well to the early setback though with half chances for Fox and Louis Appéré, and whilst they both went begging, it was 1-1 after just 14 minutes when Hoskins finished sweetly on the half-volley from Mitch Pinnock’s long throw-in.

Town wrestled control of the opening 45 minutes from there and Hoskins’ night got even better with a moment of opportunism midway through the first-half.

He stood over a free-kick right of centre 25 yards from goal and with goalkeeper Corey Addai expecting a cross, Hoskins instead opted to go for goal and placed his shot just far enough in the corner to beat Crawley’s sprawling goalkeeper.

Jack Powell sent a 30-yard effort skidding off the surface into the arms of Lee Burge but Crawley were kept at arm’s-length for the vast majority of the first-half as Northampton’s midfield trio bossed things in the middle of the park.

The away side were well worth their half-time lead and they could have extended it a matter of moments into the second period after Burge sent Hoskins away with a superb pass and he cut inside two defenders before seeing his shot loop off a defender and onto the roof of the net.

But Crawley began to turn the tide and Burge came to the rescue when denying Nadesan one-on-one, however Town did not heed the warning and they were pegged back to 2-2.

The equaliser started with a promising attack for the visitors but they lost the ball, Crawley broke and an untimely slip by Tyler Magloire allowed Nadesan to set up Balagizi for his second.

Brady called for Hylton, Bowie and Ryan Haynes but the hosts now looked the likelier to go on and win it and Nadesan again got in behind but shot tamely at Burge.

A succession of free-kicks kept the pressure on Northampton, but they would flip things around in dramatic fashion.

Two minutes into stoppage-time, Hoskins did brilliantly to get away on the right and pick out Bowie, who kept his cool to snatch all three points.

Match facts

Crawley: Addai, Craig, Tilley (Jenks 63), Powell, Ogungbo, Mason, Adebowale (Ransom 79), Balagizi, Hessenthaler, Nichols ©, Nadesan (Appiah 79)

Subs not used: Greensall, Davis, Khaleel, Gallacher

Cobblers: Burge, Lintott, Magloire (Haynes 68), Guthrie ©, Koiki, McWilliams, Fox (Hylton 68), Leonard, Pinnock, Hoskins, Appéré (Bowie 72)

Subs not used: Maxted, Dyche, Abimbola, Cross

Referee: Stephen Martin

Attendance: 2,471

Cobblers fans: 355