Hoskins and Bowie on target as excellent Cobblers bounce back to winning ways against Gillingham

Goals in either half from Sam Hoskins and Kieron Bowie steered Cobblers back to winning ways as they produced a controlled, professional away performance to beat struggling Gillingham 2-0 on Saturday.

Town completely dominated the first-half at Priestfield and carved out a number of opportunities before eventually going ahead through a predictable source, Hoskins brilliantly firing home his 13th of the campaign, matching his tally from last year.

By contrast, Gillingham as a team have scored less than half that total – six – all season and whilst they did have moments, they missed their one big opportunity shortly before Bowie went up the other end and wrapped up all three points.

That ensured Cobblers extended their unbeaten run to five games in the league and it also keeps them third in the table ahead of a big fourth versus third clash against Mark Hughes’ Bradford City at Valley Parade next weekend.

Akin Odimayo started at left-back and Shaun McWilliams also returned to the Cobblers starting XI as manager Jon Brady made two changes with Marc Leonard and Ryan Haynes dropping out. Danny Hylton was back on the bench following suspension but Louis Appéré, Josh Eppiah, Ali Koiki and Tyler Magloire all remained sidelined.

McWilliams had a chance after just two minutes when collecting a backheel from Sam Hoskins and drove into the penalty box before shooting low and hard, forcing home stopper Glenn Morris to beat away.

Morris was a busy boy in the opening 10 minutes as Cobblers started with purpose and he was quick off his line to prevent Kieron Bowie from getting in on goal before then sprawling to his right to gather Hoskins’ low long-range effort.

The visitors continued to dominate and Morris was brought into more strenuous action midway through the first-half when blocking smartly from Odimayo, but there was nothing he could do about the goal which deservedly gave Cobblers the lead.

The breakthrough arrived after 27 minutes and it was all Hoskins’ own work as Gillingham tried to play out from the back but he picked off an errant pass, drove forward and clinically fired into the roof of the net with his left foot.

Hoskins almost teed up a swift second but Ben Fox could not quite each his cutback in the six-yard box while McWilliams almost capped a brilliant end-to-end move when side-footing wide from a tight angle.

Gillingham’s problems deepened five minutes before the break when goalkeeper Morris – their best player – had to be replaced by Jack Turner after falling awkwardly on his shoulder.

A sweet hit from the lively Jordan Green almost hauled Gillingham level three minutes after the break and that lifted the home side who were playing with far more purpose and intent in the second-half.

And they had a big chance midway through the half when Cobblers lost the ball and were fortunate to see Lewis Walker prod wide with the goal at his mercy.

Bowie headed Pinnock’s cross wide at the other end but he made no mistake moments later as Town doubled their advantage. A long ball downfield was flicked on by Pinnock to Hoskins and he fizzed it across goal where Bowie poked in.

Cobblers closed out the rest of the game relatively comfortably but there was a sour note in stoppage-time when Hoskins picked up his fifth yellow card of the season, meaning he will be suspended for next week’s trip to Bradford City.

Gillingham: Morris (Turner 40), McKenzie, Wright, Baggott, Law, O’Keefe © (MacDonald 64), Williams, Jefferies (Reeves 81), Adelakun (Walker 45), Green (Kashket 64), Mandron

Subs not used: Ehmer, Akehurst

Cobblers: Burge, McGowan (Lintott 81), Sherring, Guthrie ©, Odimayo (Dyche 81), Sowerby, McWilliams, Fox (Leonard 69), Pinnock, Hoskins, Bowie (Hylton 76)

Subs not used: Dadge, Haynes, Cross

Referee: Declan Bourne

Attendance: 4,589

Cobblers fans: 429