Ten-man Cobblers drop out of the top three with defeat to Mansfield Town

Cobblers dropped out of the automatic promotion places after losing 1-0 to rivals Mansfield Town in a huge game at the top of Sky Bet League Two on Saturday.

There was not a whole lot in the game but Mansfield broke the deadlock with an Oliver Hawkins header on 21 minutes and then enjoyed a prolonged spell of dominance either side of half-time.

Town did have chances but not enough of them and when Paul Lewis was needlessly sent off with 15 minutes to go, their hopes of grabbing a point all-but evaporated.

Results elsewhere saw Cobblers slide out of the top three and the focus now must be on making sure they at least secure a play-off position, which is far from guaranteed given the congested nature of the table with six games to go.

Chanka Zimba replaced Louis Appere in a straight swap up front and Cobblers had a very early sight of goal at Field Mill when Mitch Pinnock's first-minute cross found Fraser Horsfall, whose glancing header was easy for home goalkeeper Nathan Bishop.

Bishop also had no problems dealing with Zimba's weak shot in another half chance for the away side, but otherwise it was a cagey and edgy start with the two teams feeling one another out.

Mansfield gradually began to find their stride though and they hit the front with their first real chance of the game on 21 minutes. Cobblers were beaten at their own game as Matty Longstaff's corner found the giant Hawkins and his header squirmed through the fingers of Liam Roberts.

Cobblers responded well to the setback and had chances to equalise. Jack Sowerby screwed a shot horribly wide after Mansfield failed to clear a free-kick and Pinnock then went agonisingly close when he struck the crossbar from the corner of the penalty box.

But Northampton were grateful for Roberts on more than one occasion in the closing stages of the first-half. First, he tipped wide Longstaff's curling shot, then he shovelled Rhys Oates' effort around his near post before spreading himself brilliantly to deny the same man in stoppage-time.

Half-time should have come at a good time for the Cobblers but they remained on the back foot after the restart and continued to struggle with Mansfield's dangerous set-pieces as a couple of shots were blocked in quick succession before John-Joe O'Toole scuffed wide.

Jon Brady threw on Josh Eppiah on the hour-mark but whilst he did make a positive difference to Cobblers in attack, Mansfield continued to look the more dangerous side with Stephen Quinn's low shot deflecting just wide.

Louis Appere also came on but Cobblers' task was made doubly difficult by the foolishness of Lewis who went in late George Lapslie and then pushed the Mansfield player to the ground, resulting in two yellow cards in the space of 10 seconds.

Roberts tipped Lucas Akins' low shot around the post whilst Northampton's only real chance in the final few minutes was a Danny Rose header that landed into the gloves of Bishop.

Mansfield: Bishop, McLaughlin (c), O'Toole, Hawkins, Hewitt, Quinn (Rawson 90), Longstaff (Wallace 90), Stirk, Lapslie, Akins, Oates (Bowery 72)

Subs not used: Stech, Maris, Johnson, Law

Cobblers: Roberts, McGowan, Horsfall, Guthrie, Mills (c) (Rose 81), Sowerby, Lewis, Pinnock, Lubala (Eppiah 60), Hoskins, Zimba (Appere 71)

Subs not used: Maxted, Harriman, Dyche, Pollock

Referee: Anthony Backhouse

Attendance: 6,678

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