Accrington boss Richardson undecided on who to blame for Cobblers goal

HANDS UP IF THE COBBLERS' SECOND GOAL WAS YOUR FAULT - Accrington goalkeeper Paul Rachubka (Picture: Kelly Cooper)

Accrington manager Leam Richardson was sure a mistake was made in the build-up to the Cobblers’ second goal against his side.

But the Stanley boss admits he does not know if the error was the responsibility of his goalkeeper Paul Rachubka or match referee Stuart Attwell.

With Town leading 1-0, former Cobblers loan man Rachubka fired the ball at Roy O’Donovan, who beat the stopper to the rebound after a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge.

O’Donovan then tucked the ball into the empty net and Northampton went on to complete a 2-0 win.

Richardson did not want to apportion any blame until he had the benefit of seeing the incident for a second time.

“It’s a tough one,” he said. “There was nothing in the game in the first half except for the goals and we kind of gave them the goals ourselves.

“The second one was questionable on the officials’ part and I’ll save my comments on that for another day and until I’ve seen it again.

“It wasn’t really a normal Northampton set-piece, it was a great free-kick and the second one is either a massive mistake by our keeper or a massive mistake by the officials.”

Accrington slipped into the npower League Two relegation zone with the defeat but Richardson was pleased with the way his team performed, and felt they were the dominant force in the second half, albeit without scoring.

“In the second half I thought we took the game to them very well and we’re very disappointed to be coming away from this match with nothing,” he said.

“There was only one team in the game for long periods of the second half but the damage was done in the first half, which is disappointing.

“We were the team that wanted to play football and get the ball forward in the second half, we were the team having crosses and taking shots.”