Warhurst up and running as Cobblers ease past Southend in friendly
Matty Warhurst scored his first Cobblers goal a day after signing for the club as Chris Hogg’s side eased to a 3-1 victory over Southend United in Wednesday’s pre-season friendly.
James Maxwell assisted both first half goals at Roots Hall as Max Dyche set the ball rolling with a sixth-minute header before Warhurst tapped in from a few yards out to double the advantage going into half-time.
Harvey Saunders, one of nine changes made by Hogg at the break, tucked away Town’s third to complete victory, although Southend did pull one back late on. Cobblers next host a Birmingham City XI at Sixfields this weekend.
Warhurst went straight into the starting line-up following his arrival from Manchester City on Tuesday, while Janoi Donacien and Jack Perkins were back involved after missing Saturday’s draw with Coventry. Trialist Grant Ward also featured but there was no sign of Jake Rooney.
Logan Briggs fired over in the first 90 seconds before Cobblers scored their first goal of pre-season on six minutes when Dyche headed in Maxwell’s perfectly flighted free-kick.
The first half was not rich on goalmouth action but both teams played some nice football at times and Northampton looked particularly dangerous down the left-hand side as Briggs and Maxwell dovetailed nicely.
That was where the away side’s second goal stemmed from as Dean Campbell picked out a delightful pass to find Maxwell, who grabbed his second assist by squaring the ball and setting up a simple finish for Warhurst.
Dyche and Kamarai Swyer were the only players to stay on for the second half as Hogg made wholesale changes at the break, and that inevitably led to a far more disjointed and scrappy 45 minutes of football.
The best either team could muster until the 70th-minute were half chances but Cobblers did then have a third goal when Saunders raced away from the home defence and held his nerve to finish well after briefly allowing a defender to get back.
Southend scored with nine minutes to play through Oli Hyams but it was too late to affect the outcome.
Cobblers first half XI: Jeacock, Donacien, Guthrie ©, Dyche, Maxwell, Campbell, Fornah, Briggs, Swyer, List, Warhurst
Cobblers second half XI: Fitzsimons, Wormleighton, Moore ©, Dyche, Ashton, Ward, Perkins, Swyer (sub Moon-Arnaez 73), Dobson, Hoskins, Saunders
Southend: Trialist A, Goodliffe, Backwell, Austin, Twamley, Trialist B, Trialist C, Parillon, Cox, Coker
Subs: Barrett, Daly-Campbell, Hartigan, Oyedabe, Oldaker, Cardwell, Stone, Hyams, Popoola, Ward
Referee: Aaron Farmer
Attendance: 1,720 (64 Cobblers fans)