Ten-man Cobblers dig out valuable point with away draw at Leyton Orient after controversial red card

Cobblers showed tremendous resilience and fighting spirit to battle their way to an excellent 0-0 draw against second-placed Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road on Saturday despite playing virtually all of the second-half with 10 men.

The teams traded half chances in a tight first-half that initially saw Town begin brightly before Orient turned the tide. The home side were in the ascendency when the half-time whistle blew and even more so after Ben Fox saw red for what appeared a perfectly legitimate tackle just minutes into the second period.

Orient bossed the game from that point on but Cobblers kept their discipline and organisation and worked incredibly hard to deny them any clear-cut chances en route to a deserved point, which stops the mini-rot following back-to-back defeats.

Fox now faces a three-game ban unless Northampton successfully appeal and Jon Brady will also be banned from the touchline for next week’s visit to leaders Stevenage after receiving his fourth yellow card of the season.

The injury curse struck again before kick-off as Jon Brady lost both top scorer Sam Hoskins and Leicester loanee Josh Eppiah to new injuries. They were replaced by Ben Fox and Louis Appéré. Jonny Maxted was also absent from the squad that travelled down to London due to personal reasons.

The changes in personnel meant a tactical switch to 4-3-3 and Cobblers began well at Brisbane Road, almost going ahead inside three minutes when a nicely-worked move down the right side culminated in Ali Koiki firing just wide from the edge of the penalty box.

Town started with real energy and impetus and their tenacious work in midfield led to another decent opening, this time for Marc Leonard who broke into the box and let fly with a shot that deflected off a defender and zipped over the crossbar.

Orient found their footing and gradually gained the upper-hand. The majority of their attacks were being worked down Northampton’s left side and at times only the final ball was missing after some good approach play.

It was only in the final five minutes of the first-half when Orient really began to threaten Northampton’s goal. Paul Smyth’s free-kick was clawed away by Lee Burge and then Dan Happe’s header from the subsequent corner clipped the top of the crossbar.

Cobblers reached half-time on level terms but they needed a good start to the second-half and instead got the exact opposite. With less than four minutes played, Fox went flying in for what looked a strong but fair challenge on Craig Clay. However, referee Ollie Yates saw it differently and immediately whipped out the red card. That sparked fury from visiting players and fans, as well as Brady who was booked for his protestations.

Town now faced a mammoth task to get anything out of the game but they almost went ahead when Mitch Pinnock was found in acres of space on the counter-attack, however his shot was beaten away by Lawrence Vigouroux.

Orient used their numerical superiority to monopolise possession and patently probe for an opener. George Moncur was off target with a couple of long-range attempts but Town worked hard and were not making life easy for their hosts.

Smyth’s shot was smothered away by Burge but again that was from long-range as Cobblers, roared on by their superb supporters, kicked, tackles and headed everything clear to register an impressive clean sheet and dig in for a valuable point on the road.

Orient: Vigourroux, James (Duke-McKenna 82), Happe, Beckles ©, Hunt, Clay (Kelman 79), Brown, Moncur, Drinan, Smyth, Archibald (Sotririou 87)

Subs not used: Sargent, Ogie, Thompson, Pratley

Cobblers: Burge, Lintott (Odimayo 80), Sherring, Guthrie ©, Koiki, Sowerby, Leonard (McWilliams 79), Fox, Pinnock, Bowie (Haynes 86), Appéré (Dyche 90)

Subs not used: Dadge, Cross, Hylton

Referee: Ollie Yates

Attendance: 8,716

Cobblers fans: 1,250