Jack Sowerby talks through his stunning winning goal against Crawley Town

Locked at 0-0 with 11 minutes to play against woefully out-of-form Crawley Town, this was a game the Cobblers simply had to win.

They played reasonably well and really should have been home and dry by half-time but missed chances followed by Aaron McGowan’s harsh sending off was making for a frustrating afternoon.

And then up popped an unlikely hero.

Sowerby had only scored one goal for Town and never at Sixfields but he changed that in sensational fashion when unleashing a magnificent volley that would win any goal of the season competition.

"You know what? There was actually a similar one in training on Friday,” revealed Sowerby afterwards.

"A ball like that came out to me and I hit the target so I thought 'you know what, it's sitting perfectly, I'm just going to hit it' and it flew in.

"I knew as soon as I made contact that it was going in and I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself when it did! I was buzzing.

"I did score a few screamers back in my younger days but that's by far the best.”

Had Sowerby not pulled off the spectacular, Town’s automatic promotion hopes would have looked increasingly forlorn.

"I thought it was the least we deserved after the first-half performance,” he said. "We should have been out of sight and it could have been three or four before half-time because we got through them so many times.

"The change of formation helped us and we really put it on them and got the fans behind us.

"Crawley made it tough in the second-half but luckily for us we scored the goal and got the three points.”

In a funny way, McGowan’s contentious red card worked to Cobblers’ advantage. The theatrics of certain Crawley players riled the crowd and a fracas involving both benches and nearly all 22 players galvanised everyone in claret.

Sowerby continued: "When AJ got sent off, we knew we had to battle and fight for every ball and we did that and you could see at the end what it meant.

"It could be a turning point for us. It's been a tough week with three difficult games but we have picked up seven points and we're happy with that and we want to kick on.

"We are in a good position. We still have Carlisle and Stevenage to play this season so we will keep going about our business and keep trying to pick up wins."

The 27-year-old, who is one shy of 100 appearances for Northampton, confirmed he was ‘fine’ after coming off with cramp in stoppage-time.

He got a big hug from Jon Brady as he made his way back to the bench.

"It means so much to the manager,” he added. “He obviously loves this club and he wants us to do well.

"I think there was a bit of frustration after missing those chances in the first-half but to get the goal with 10 men and hold out, we all really enjoyed that one.

"I think the fans enjoyed it at the end as well. They always play a part and they got behind us and drove us on, especially in those tough moments.”