Cobblers lose ground after being held by Tranmere Rovers in Sixfields stalemate

Cobblers lost ground on the top two in Sky Bet League Two when held at home for the third game in a row, drawing 0-0 with Tranmere Rovers at Sixfields on Saturday.

Town enjoyed most of the play in a goalless first-half but they failed to convert possession into shots on target and instead the two best chances were created – and missed – by Tranmere.

The game was characterized by a lack of quality and composure in the final third throughout and ultimately that meant no way through for either side. Cobblers remain healthily placed in third but have lost ground on both Stevenage and Leyton Orient.

Top scorer Sam Hoskins returned from suspension to replace Louis Appéré in the only alteration from the team that beat Bradford City two weeks ago as Jon Brady named his strongest matchday squad of the season. Tyler Magloire and Ali Koiki were the only players missing.

Cobblers started at a good tempo and they had two half chances in the first five minutes with Mitch Pinnock’s shot blocked before Hoskins was unable to get his first touch right after being found in behind Tranmere’s defence by an excellent long pass from Sam Sherring.

The game's first big opportunity came up the other end though where a right-wing cross after 15 minutes found Josh Hawkes at the back post and he was denied by Lee Burge despite having time and space to pick his spot.

An even clearer chance fell Tranmere’s way a few minutes later but somehow they were denied by the heroics of Burge. He needed to be at his very best to produce an outstanding double save, first keeping out Kane Hemmings’ close-range header before denying Paul Lewis on the rebound.

Ethan Bristow was then somewhat fortunate to only see yellow after hauling down Kieron Bowie just as Town’s striker looked to get in on goal. Pinnock smacked the subsequent free-kick into the wall.

Hemmings curled another shot wide and whilst Northampton enjoyed more of the play and produced some good approach work in the middle third, they were limited to pot shots with Shaun McWilliams’ volley blocked and Hoskins whipping a fine effort narrowly the wrong side of the post.

Goalless at the break, Tranmere began the second-half with more intent but both teams continued to struggle to turn decent approach play into genuine, goalscoring opportunities.

Danny Hylton and Louis Appéré came on for the Cobblers and Max Dyche replaced an injured Sherring, but if either side looked like breaking the deadlock, it was the visitors and they nearly did so when Hemmings midway through the second period.

Town neither had control nor much of an attacking threat in the second-half despite Marc Leonard and Josh Eppiah joining the party.

A winner could have been scored at either end in the closing stages and Cobblers were close to snatching it in stoppage-time when Hoskins brought down a long ball inside the penalty box, but he dragged wide of the post and that was that.

Cobblers: Burge, McGowan, Sherring (Dyche 66), Guthrie ©, Odimayo, Sowerby, McWilliams (Leonard 81), Fox (Appéré 63), Pinnock (Eppiah 81), Hoskins, Bowie (Hylton 63)

Subs not used: Maxted, Haynes

Tranmere: Doohan, Dacres-Cogley, Davies, Byrne, Bristow, Morris, O’Connor, Merrie, Hawkes, Lewis (Nevitt 53), Hemmings ©

Subs not used: Hewelt, Jameson, Hughes, Burton, Taylor

Referee: Will Finnie

Attendance: 5,601

Tranmere fans: 363