Five-star Cobblers hit the goal trail as they cruise past Southampton youngsters

Coming off successive league defeats, the Cobblers were in need of a positive result and performance to boost spirits before Saturday's visit of Peterborough, and they got that and more despite manager Keith Curle making multiple changes from the weekend

Joseph Mills made it two goals in two games in this competition with a seventh-minute free-kick before Mark Marshall's wonderful curling effort had Cobblers in total control at the break.

Benny Ashley-Seal netted his first goal for the club moments into the second-half and he quickly followed that with another, albeit not before academy striker Caleb Chukwuemeka joined in on the act courtesy of a neat finish himself.

Town's fate in the EFL Trophy now rests on their final Southern Group C match against Stevenage at the PTS next month.

A win, either in the 90 minutes or on penalties should it finish level, would take Cobblers through but anything else and it'll be Stevenage who qualify for the knockout stages.

Despite the eventual result on Tuesday, perhaps the best news of the evening came an hour before kick-off when the teams were announced.

Featuring for the Cobblers was midfielder Shaun McWilliams, who made his first appearance since injuring his knee at Crawley Town nearly 10 months ago.

Danny Rose was also handed his debut up front and Nicky Adams captained the side on his first start of the season, while the three-man defence did not include a single centre-back, instead made up of Mills, Michael Harriman and Joe Martin.

A 15-minute delay to proceedings allowed the sodden PTS pitch some time to dry out, although it was still extremely wet and causing problems for players on both sides when the game did eventually kick-off.

But Mills used the conditions to his advantage with only seven minutes played when, following a foul on Rose, he drilled a low free-kick through Southampton's unconvincing wall and into the net, via a deflection.

Players were slipping and sliding in the soggy conditions but Southampton had a chance to level on 21 minutes and Town needed goalkeeper Jonathan Mitchell to be alert as he smothered at the feet of Nathan Tella.

The teams exchanges half chances midway through a decent opening period, Tella just unable to reach Jake Hesketh's low cross and then Rose toe-poking wide after Adams delivered a fine ball into the box.

Mills' was staking his claim to be Town's permanent free-kick taker with another terrific effort on the half-hour but this time Harry Lewis scampered across his goal to tip over the crossbar.

Allan Tchaptchet glanced a header just wide for Saints and there didn't look to be much to separate the teams as half-time approached, but Cobblers significantly strengthened their position with a goal of real quality just four minutes before the break.

Marshall drove down the left and although his initial cross was blocked, the ball broke kindly for him and he made the most of it, cutting inside and arrowing a delightful curling effort into the far corner to make it 2-0 at half-time.

Rose and McWilliams were withdrawn at half-time but Town had a third less than a minute into the second-half when Ashley-Seal's low strike slipped through the grasp of Lewis, his first Cobblers goal.

There was another landmark goal to celebrate only seven minutes later as Cobblers threatened to run riot with this time Chukwuemeka picking up Jack Sowerby's excellent pass before biding his time and finishing well into the bottom corner.

Ashley-Seal would have scored another had he been able to control Ricky Korboa's cross, but he didn't have to wait long to double his tally, finishing off a smart move that again involved Sowerby, plus the recently introduced Morgan Roberts.

Cobblers could have added further goals had they really put their foot down in the final half-hour but despite further chances for Ashley-Seal and Chris Lines, that would prove the end of the scoring.

Match facts

Cobblers: Mitchell, Harriman, Martin, Mills, Adams (c) (Roberts 53), Marshall, McWilliams (Rose 45), Lines, Korboa, Ashley-Seal, Rose (Chukwuemeka 45)

Subs not used: Arnold, Watson, Warburton, Cross

Southampton: Lewis, Valery, Tella (c), Vokins, Agbontohoma (Defise 70), Ramsay, Hesketh, Tchaptchet, Watts, Chanke, Mitchell (Olaigbe 61)

Subs not used: Scott, Kpohomouh, Keogh, Morris

Referee: David Rock