Rose and Hoskins strike to bag the points as Cobblers see off 10-man Scunthorpe

Town were in almost total control once Scunthorpe were reduced to 10 men as Emmanuel Onariase saw red after only 20 minutes, but they had to wait until the second-half to finally make their superiority count.

After numerous chances came and went, the home side moved ahead thanks to the excellent Danny Rose just past the hour-mark, and the points were sealed in stoppage-time when Sam Hoskins forced the ball home.

The early red card clearly helped the Cobblers but nonetheless they were full value for their victory after a dominant, chance-filled performance.

It takes their tally to a very healthy 10 points from five games.

Ali Koiki replaced the injured Joseph Mills at left-back in the only change from the Cobblers' last league game at Crawley Town.

Hoskins tested the alertness of Rory Watson after a mere 12 seconds with his rasping shot from range straight down the throat of Scunthorpe's goalkeeper.

Hoskins also caught the side-netting with another free-kick six minutes later before Scunthorpe suffered a huge setback when Onariase saw red for barging over Danny Rose as Town's striker bore down on goal.

Mitch Pinnock blasted the subsequent free-kick into the wall and whilst Cobblers now had 70 minutes against 10 men, they were fortunate not to fall behind on the half-hour mark.

Scunthorpe created two good chances in as many minutes as Devarn Green hesitated and allowed Liam Roberts to come out and smother before George Taft's header at the following corner hit Pinnock and rolled fractionally wide.

Cobblers reasserted themselves and ended the half on top, going close through Paul Lewis' header, which was cleared off the line, before the best opening of the first 45 minutes fell to Hoskins from Rose's low cross, but his close-range flick was superbly kept out by Watson.

The second-half continued in the same vein and Lewis spurned two good chances, shooting just wide from Rose's knockdown before ballooning over from Etete's fizzed ball across the face of goal.

Lewis' luck continued to be out when his glancing header caught the top of the crossbar, but finally Town's pressure paid off with a richly-deserved goal for Rose, who stuck a leg out to poke Hoskins' fizzed cross into the net.

That put Cobblers in the slightly awkward position of leading by a slender margin up against 10 men but they managed the situation relatively well as substitute Nicke Kabamba missed the chance to kill the game off, denied by Watson.

There were a few scary moments in the closing moments but Sixfields could breathe a huge sigh of relief in stoppage-time when Hoskins scrambled home.

Match facts

Cobblers: Roberts, McGowan, Horsfall (c), Guthrie, Koiki, Lewis, Flores, Pinnock (Connolly 63), Hoskins, Rose (McWilliams 84), Etete (Kabamba 74)

Subs not used: Maxted, Nelson, Sowerby, Pollock

Scunthorpe: Watson, Taft (Bunn 76), Onariase, Green, Beestin, Rowe, Wood, Thompson, Jarvis (Scrimshaw 68), Davis (c), Hackney (Perry 61)

Subs not used: Hippolyte, Collins, O'Neill, Pugh

Referee: Tom Reeves

Attendance: 4,870

Scunthorpe fans: 331