Hoskins happy for the Cobblers to dig in and win ugly

A Town side without a clutch of key players performed valiantly in horrible weather conditions at Sixfields on Saturday, edging out in-form promotion rivals Leyton Orient 1-0.

Hoskins scored the only goal of the game towards the end of the first-half, prodding home after Max Dyche had flicked on a long throw from Mitch Pinnock.

Town then stood firm as the visitors tried to pile on the pressure with a strong wind at their backs after the break, and Hoskins admitted it was a satisfying afternoon.

"We knew it was going to be tricky, even without the conditions, and we knew it was going to be a tough game against a good team," said Hoskins.

"We knew what we needed to do, we stuck to our game-plan, and we have got a hard-fought and deserved three points."

Hoskins' crucial and well-taken goal was his sixth goal of the campaign, and he said: "We know Mitch has got a long throw, and I think I scored a similar goal at Hartlepool where I have got on the end of a flick on and volleyed it in.

"You just have to try and gamble and luckily on Saturday I have got on the end of it and put it away."

The goal gave the Cobblers something to hold on to.

And although they were without the regular spine of their team, with Jon Guthrie missing as his wife went into labour on Saturday morning, Shaun McWilliams suspended main striker Kion Etete substituted after a first-half injury, they did it superbly.

It was a 10th clean sheet of the campaign for Jon Brady's men who are now second in Sky Bet League Two, and Hoskins admitted was a team effort.

"At half-time we knew they were going to pile quite a lot of pressure on us because they had the win behind them, he said.

"But we stuck to our task and I think we defended quite well as a whole, as a team, and I think they might have had one clear chance, so I think we deserved it."