New signings in the goals as Cobblers put six past Sileby in pre-season opener - pictures and report

Summer signings Nicke Kabamba and Mitch Pinnock were both among the goals as Cobblers opened up their pre-season campaign with a routine 6-0 victory over Sileby Rangers at Fernie Fields on Saturday.

Teenager Liam Cross opened the scoring just a couple of minutes in and that set the tone for a predictably one-sided affair with Kabamba striking twice later in the first-half before Pinnock did likewise in the second.

With Benny Ashley-Seal rounding off the afternoon with a sixth, manager Jon Brady, who was joined by new assistant Colin Calderwood on the touchline, would have been pleased with the workout ahead of a much stiffer test against West Ham United in midweek.

Cobblers' first-half team included a couple of trialists in Bazeley-Graham and Josh Debayo - both defenders - while former youth team player Camron McWilliams also featured on trial alongside ex-Crawley man David Sesay in the second 45 minutes.

Five new signings started and two of those combined for the opening goal inside just two minutes when Paul Lewis' excellent long pass found Kabamba and he beat two defenders before putting the ball on a plate for Cross to turn home.

Shaun McWIlliams missed a glaring chance to make it two when side-footing wide eight yards out before Cross, in a similar position, shot too close to Sileby's goalkeeper.

Cobblers did have their second midway through the half when Kabamba, who looked sharp throughout, played a slick one-two with Danny Rose and scrambled the ball in from close-range.

Lewis headed a glorious opportunity onto the crossbar two minutes later but Kabamba made no mistake with his head for Town's third shortly before half-time, glancing in a superb cross from the impressive Debayo.

The first-half team could easily have scored more before making way at the break, and it was more of the same after half-time with a fourth goal not long in coming, Pinnock the recipient of good work by Scott Pollock on the left.

Pollock, playing his first game of any kind for more than a year, was bright in an attacking midfield role and he forced good low stop from the home goalkeeper before Jon Guthrie, who wore the armband in the second 45, headed the subsequent corner against the crossbar.

Pinnock had his second and Town's fifth on the hour-mark when his long-range effort deceived the goalkeeper and then Benny Ashley-Seal got in on the act with a close-range finish from Sam Hoskins' low cross.

More goals were in the offing if Cobblers fancied them but chances came and went, including a late Hoskins penalty, so six plus a clean sheet would have to suffice.

Cobblers first-half team: Maxted, Bazeley-Graham (trialist), Debayo (trialist), Nelson, Horsfall, S McWilliams, Lewis, Connolly, Cross, Kabamba, Rose

Cobblers second-half team: Roberts, Harriman, Guthrie, Sesay (trialist), C McWilliams (trialist), Flanagan, Sowerby, Pollock, Hoskins, Pinnock, Ashley-Seal

Sileby starting XI: Patching, Roche, Vaughan, Hines, Wilkinson, Lyons, Lovell, Johnson, Taylor, Mann, Stevens

Attendance: 550