Eppiah relieved to escape serious injury after Watt's horror tackle

Cobblers forward Josh Eppiah admitted his relief at escaping serious injury after he was on the receiving end of Elliot Watt’s horror tackle during Saturday’s League Two game against Salford City at Moor Lane.

Two minutes into the second-half, Watt challenged for the ball just outside the penalty box but got it all wrong as he went over the ball and unintentionally caught Eppiah above the ankle. It was the type of challenge that could easily have caused a broken leg.

Unsurprisingly, Eppiah was in a lot of pain afterwards and took a while to get back to his feet, but thankfully he did not suffer a serious injury and was able to play another 25 minutes. Remarkably, referee Robert Lewis did not even award a foul.

"I thought it should have been a red card,” said Eppiah. “Their player has just gone over me. I put my leg out and he's gone straight through it.

"Luckily, it hit my shin as well because at that time I rolled my ankle and if it was any further down my leg, god knows what would have happened, so 100 per cent I thought that was a red card.”

That was not the only contentious moment that involved Eppiah during a frustrating afternoon in Greater Manchester. A few minutes later, he expertly brought down Ben Fox’s excellent pass before firing past home goalkeeper Alex Cairns, only for the offside flag to go up and deny Town a second equaliser.

"Obviously you can't go against the referee's decision but for me, being on the pitch at the time, I felt I was onside,” Eppiah added. "A lot of people came up to me after the game and said I wasn't offside, but it's just one of those days, you can't dwell on it too much.

"I could do with a goal and I had a chance just before that as well. I should have done better with that one, especially if it was on my left foot, but I just need that first goal and hopefully it will come soon.”