I don't understand what caused our change of tactics/attitude after the opening 20 minutes.
The first 20, whilst not exactly breathtaking, was good - we create a couple of openings, dominated possession and territory, and looked threatening. This was because of the high line and high press we were implementing - our wing backs pressed right up onto their full backs on occasions, which did mean that sometimes their wide men in the 4-2-3-1 would hit the channel and drag Aimson/Watts out wide, but other than a couple of crosses, nothing ever came of it for them. We were well on top, a little sloppy sometimes but looked set to control the game.
After that... it was as if someone hit the off switch. Pretty much all of the pressing stopped, and our defence dropped unnecessarily deep. The first goal, whilst Fornah is at fault for a weak header, came about because we were 10 yards too deep for that free kick. It allowed Northampton, a very functional and limited team, to play to their strength - winning headers and playing off knock-downs.
When we don't press opposition teams and sit deep, it isolates our strikers so so badly - I have been critical of Hardie, Jephcott and Ennis recently, and their movement, finishing and hold up play hasn't been good admittedly, but I think one must sympathise with the fact that they are easily double-marked because we don't commit midfield players forward enough. The 2nd half consisted of pretty much exclusively long balls from our defenders, which sometimes were accurate, but even when they were it's a contest that our strikers will lose 9 times out of 10. They're not target men - they NEED balls into feet or balls they can run onto. All Northampton had to do was stay compact and watch as we lumped it up to Jephcott and Hardie/Ennis all half.
Sometimes the negative effects of our lack of pressing can be masked by us passing the ball really well. The best move of the match was when Camara received the ball in our half, turned out, played a great ball to Lewis in space, who drove forward and crossed excellently for Jephcott, who in turn played a good 1-2 with Hardie, putting him in on goal. That kind of quality on the ball that we're occasionally capable of was completely absent in the final hour tonight. They're League 1 players, I get it - they aren't always going to be able to pass it around perfectly. But the quality in possession was conference standard tonight - admittedly on a slightly lively surface.
We have to press the ball more. Ironically, given how madly brilliant our attacking play was against Lincoln, we've failed to score in the other 3 games out of our last 4. That's a trend that will continue unless we play higher up and get our strikers in the game.
Cooper 7 MOTM - command again exemplary, one good save in the first half, blameless for either goal. Distribution pretty good too, and showed fantastic sweeping to rush out and clear one very good first half through ball.
Aimson 5 - his hoofing in the 2nd half was as aimless as I've seen from him. Defensively good though, as normal.
Woods 2 - would have been a 4, a couple of points off for that horrific tackle. Too early to judge him after just a couple of appearances, but I'm not optimistic based on what I've seen. Hopefully he can turn it around.
Watts 5 - same as Aimson, perhaps a smidgen better on the ball.
Fornah 5 - really frustrating. Earlier in the season I regularly gave 5's for him as I felt that he was never really remarkable, didn't do that much and let the game pass him by a bit. Now... he's having 20 or 30 minutes per game when he's really really good, and then just goes off the boil. One moment tonight when he got out of a really tight spot, retained possession and then played a pass forward was fantastic. But he faded again, badly. At fault for the 1st goal.
Edwards 5 - 7 first half, 3 in the second. Rightly subbed, but I'd still start him on Saturday looking at the big picture - he's normally better than that.
Camara 5 - Slightly better on the ball tonight, but another who faded badly.
Mayor 5 - Didn't have his usual impact, albeit Northampton really doubled up on him to subdue him. Terrible header for the 2nd goal.
Lewis 5 - Andy Kellett mk II. Some fantastic crosses and dribbling, but also some moments of really poor technique, and his defensive marking and awareness isn't there yet.
Jephcott & Hardie 5 - Didn't do anything of note after that neat one-two, but as I said above, I sympathise with our strikers a little right now, so they're saved from a really low mark for that reason. They need more bodies around them.
Subs: Moore 6, Reeves 6, Ennis 4, Grant 6, Lolos 4.
