Practice makes perfect for Sam Hoskins after trademark finish snatches late victory for Northampton against Cheltenham

It is no accident that when Sam Hoskins finds himself at an acute angle with the only the goalkeeper to beat, he so often picks out the back of the net.

Town’s talisman was at it again against Cheltenham Town on Saturday when, with the game goalless and only two minutes of the 90 left, he pounced on a defensive slip, latched onto Sam Sherring’s long ball and only had goalkeeper Luke Southwood in his way.

As Cobblers supporters have seen many times before, Hoskins duly picked out the far bottom corner with a trademark finish, firing low and hard and through Southwood’s grasp to snatch all three points and make it back-to-back League One wins for his team.

"When I saw the defender slip, it was nice to be in that position,” said Hoskins. “I did have a look up because it was quite a tight angle but there was no-one in sight so I thought I'd try my luck and fortunately it went in.

"Obviously the first thing you've got to do in that position is hit the target but you try to keep it low and hit it as hard as you can. We do practice that finish quite a lot in training with Marc Richards and it's good to see that practice paying off in matches.

"It makes it that much sweeter when you score in front of the fans as well and they were brilliant again. We left it late again but it was nice to reward them with a late winner like that.”

That’s four goals scored beyond the 86th minute already this season, which is a continuation of last season when Cobblers were one of the best teams in League Two for netting late goals.

"We definitely improved that aspect of our game last season because we didn't score too many late goals the previous year,” added Hoskins, who has three goals himself this season. “We're continuing that improvement this season.

"Cheltenham had a good spell in the second half but we dug in and defended well and to go and get another late goal, it shows the character and resilience of the lads again.”

After breaking the 20-goal barrier last term, Hoskins wants to prove he can cut it in League One. "That's obviously the target – to score as many goals as possible,” he continued. “But if I'm contributing to the team's performance with goals and assists and helping us to win games, that's always my main aim.”