Martin sees red as Cobblers pay price for dreadful defending in defeat at Rovers

Cobblers paid a heavy price for two moments of suicidal defending as they were beaten 2-0 by previous winless Bristol Rovers on Saturday.

There had been nothing in the game up until the 55th minute but Cian Bolger's ill-advised challenge on Brandon Hanlan led to a successfully converted spot-kick and then just three minutes later Joe Martin was sent off for raising his elbow.

Town were a beaten team from that moment on and Jack Baldwin's late goal added to their misery on a thoroughly forgettable afternoon at the Memorial Stadium.

It's a second 2-0 defeat in a row for the Cobblers and while not helped by those two brainless bits of defending, it was a poor all-round performance in the west country and gives manager Keith Curle plenty to ponder ahead of next week's big clash against rivals Peterborough United.

New boy Danny Rose made the squad 24 hours after completing his move to Northampton and he was joined on the bench by another summer signing in Jack Sowerby, plus Ricky Korboa and Benny Ashley-Seal both of whom returned from injury.

The one change to the starting line-up came at wing-back where Michael Harriman replaced Mark Marshall, and Town made a strong start at the Memorial with Rovers fortunate to survive a messy goalmouth scramble in the early moments.

But the home side improved and after a free header at a corner was well blocked, Cian Harries had the ball in the net after tapping home at the back post, only for the offside flag to go up.

A good opportunity dropped onto the right foot of Town midfielder Christopher Missilou on 20 minutes but he dragged wide and that was just about the last real chance of the first-half as conditions worsened and the match deteriorated.

Both sides looked vulnerable to the counter-attack but neither attack was good enough to exploit the space with Sam Hoskins unable to release Harry Smith and then Luke McCormick curling wide for Rovers late in the half.

The hosts made a good start to the second-half and they were rewarded thanks to Bolger's clumsiness 10 minutes in. Hanlan skipped into the box before being brought down by Town's skipper, and the same man picked himself up to blast the spot-kick into the top corner.

Curle responded by making a triple substitution, including a debut for Sowerby and a return for Korboa, but Town's hopes of a comeback were immediately hampered by another piece of suicidal defending. Martin, already on a yellow, raised his arms and caught Hanlan in the face, resulting in red and an early bath.

Ashley-Seal, who was also introduced, joined Smith and Korboa as a front three but the Cobblers could just get nothing going in an attacking sense and a second Rovers goal put them out of their misery.

Baldwin was the scorer, blasting in from close-range, and the home side would have scored a third goal if not for an excellent save by Steve Arnold as he denied Sam Nicholson one-on-one.

Sam Hoskins cleared Hanlan's shot off the line and Josh Hare cracked the crossbar in the closing moments but Rovers' victory was never in doubt with Anssi Jaakkola's first save not coming until the final minute and it was a comfortable one at that.

Rovers: Jaakkola, Grant, Ehmer (c), Westbrooke, Hanlan, McCormick (Hargreaves 85), Daly (Nicholson 72), Hare, Tutonda, Harries, Baldwin

Subs not used: Stappershoef, Leahy, Upson, Mitchell-Lawson, Kilgour

Cobblers: Arnold, Racic, Bolger (c), Martin, Harriman (Korboa 56), Mills, Missilou (Sowerby 57), Watson, Hoskins, Warburton (Ashley-Seal 57), Smith

Subs not used: Mitchell, Marshall, Adams, Rose

Referee: Sam Purkiss