Boos greet another Northampton Town defeat
Boos rang out into the night air at Sixfields as Northampton Town were well beaten by Barnet.
Despite taking the lead through Ben Marshall, the Bees sting three times in a second half that saw the visitors pass their opponents off the park.
A once rock-solid defence now looks leaky and the rest of the team played with no cohesion, regularly conceding possession.
Barnet, to give them their due credit, played very well, and deserved all three points.
This morning they will see the name of their club at the top of Coca-Cola League Two – with some justification.
Adebayo Akinfenwa was restored to the starting line-up a week after his aborted transfer to Swansea City, with Steve Guinan's ankle problem allowing Gary Mulligan to keep his place.
They had good fortune on the half-hour mark when Marshall opened the scoring.
Luke Boden did well to wriggle free down the right but found himself blocked by two tacklers.
However, his fellow loanee Marshall collected possession, ran at his man and hit a left-footed shot which looped up and over the stranded keeper.
They had luck again when Paul Furlong got above Craig Hinton to head across goal after a slow reaction to a short free-kick.
Marshall got a much cleaner contact on a left-footed strike in the first stages of the second half, fizzing a shot from 20 yards which Cole did well to get two hands on.
Ahmed Deen showed Town how to do it, though, curling a great free-kick over the wall and into the net in the 52nd minute.
The Cobblers had a bright spell but it was all too brief, though.
Yannick Bolasie sped outside Hinton down the wing and crossed for Paul Furlong, who – maybe not intentionally – clipped the ball over Dunn.
In fairness it was nothing less than Barnet deserved. They were outpassing and outrunning their hosts almost with ease.
It got worse too, when Dean Beckwith – so consistent over the first few games of the season – headed back to Dunn, who came then hesitated, allowing John O'Flynn to steal in and pass the ball through the keeper's legs for a third.
Twenty minutes remained but any further chances all fell to the visitors, who underlined their promotion credentials as Northampton did nothing for their own cause.
Dramatic improvements need to be made if this club is to challenge for a top-three position because there is no way they will be leaving the division – at least not at the right end – if they continue to play like this.
As well as the boos at the final whistle, there was also a brief chorus of 'what a load of rubbish.'
It was a statement which was painfully accurate.
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Weather for Kettering
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: North west
