Hoskins' goal not enough as Cobblers pay for poor start in defeat to Bolton

Cobblers were made to pay for a slow start when beaten 2-1 by Bolton Wanderers at the Toughsheet Community Stadium on Saturday.

Town were naive and exposed and pretty much blown away inside the first 16 minutes as Dion Charles and Randell Williams both found the net and there were chances for more as Bolton carved through their visitors on multiple occasions.

Northampton could have gone under at that point but, to their credit, they did improve and came back at Bolton, and when Sam Hoskins headed in his sixth of the season midway through the second half, a draw wasn’t beyond their reach.

However, despite pushing hard, Bolton survived one or two scares late on to take the victory and inflict a second successive defeat on Town, who nonetheless remain 19th in League One.

Louis Appéré missed out with a minor injury and was replaced by Tyreece Simpson in the only change from two weeks ago, which meant Shaun McWilliams started on his 200th appearance for the club.

It appeared both teams were easing themselves into the contest in a relatively even start, but Bolton scored with their first real attack on eight minutes and from there they assumed total control. Cobblers were slow to react after Williams’ 20 yard shot hit the post but Charles wasn’t and he calmly stuck away the rebound.

The home side’s tails were up and Victor Adeboyejo almost added a quick second, poking wide after muscling his way through, before Cobblers just about survived a goalmouth scramble having failed to deal with a corner.

The game plan from Northampton was clear – push high up the pitch and press aggressively – but they were leaving gaps all over the place and Bolton had the quality to pick them off at will, as they did so with a second goal on 16 minutes, this time Williams afforded the space to cut inside and slot home.

It might have turned ugly from there but, fortunately, Bolton eased off the gas and allowed Cobblers to finally get a foothold in the game. They did improve towards the end of the half and Sam Hoskins and Mitch Pinnock were off target with half chances.

Even so, it came as no great surprise that Jon Brady made a tactical switch at half-time, sending on Jordan Willis for his debut and moving to a back three, but the pattern of the game remained largely the same as Charles twice went close to doubling his tally.

Burge was across his goal to keep out Thomason and Monthé blocked brilliantly from Aaron Morley before a rare chance fell to Northampton when Hoskins shot too close to Nathan Baxter having intercepted the goalkeeper’s loose pass.

That felt like a big miss but Hoskins immediately made amends when giving Cobblers hope by halving the deficit with his sixth of the season. Town worked it from right to left for Monthé to send in a delicate cross that Hoskins glanced into the bottom corner.

Gethin Jones could have snuffed out hope of a comeback within minutes but he headed over before Brady brought on Will Hondermarck and Harvey Lintott as his side chased an unlikely leveller.

Cobblers pressed hard late on and had a couple of close shaves through Ali Koiki and Sam Hoskins but the ball just wouldn’t sit for them in front of goal and Bolton were able to hang on for all three points.

Bolton: Baxter, Jones, Thomason, Santos ©, Sheehan, Dacres-Cogley, Morley (Maghoma 74), Toal, Williams, Charles (Bodvarsson 78), Adeboyejo (Nlundulu 79)

Subs not used: Coleman, Iredale, Forrester, Jerome

Cobblers: Burge, Odimayo, Sherring, Monthé, Brough (Koiki 61), McWilliams, Leonard, Pinnock, Hoskins ©, Bowie (Willis 45), Simpson (Hondermarck 74)

Subs not used: Maxted, McGowan, Lintott, Haynes

Referee: Martin Coy

Attendance: 19,160

Cobblers fans: 750