Exeter City hope to bounce back from Saturday’s defeat with a Papa John’s Trophy Second Round matchup with Northampton Town.
The last time the Cobblers played at St James Park, the Grecians needed to come from behind to beat Keith Curle’s side.
Goals from Randell Williams, Aaron Martin and Alex Fisher completed the scoring for City, despite Northampton’s late resurgence.
Jed Penberthy looks back at this classic encounter from 2019.
Exeter City 3-2 Northampton Town, Sky Bet League Two
St James Park
December 7th, 2019
Matt Taylor’s men knew a win against fellow high-flyers Northampton Town, would move Exeter up to second ahead of the festive period.
City were unbeaten in seven going into the fixture and fielded 10 changes from the EFL Trophy win against Oxford, only Alex Fisher remaining in the side making his first league start since September.
Ryan Bowman had the first meaningful effort of the afternoon. The City Number 12 side-footed narrowly wide from the edge of the box.
It was the away side who drew first blood though. On 33 minutes Nicky Law lost a 50/50 deep in the City half and the ball broke kindly for Nicky Adams. Adams’ cross ricocheted out to Charlie Goode on the edge, and the centre back expertly dispatched the half-volley for the lead.
Exeter levelled just five minutes later. Randell Williams cut inside and forced his unchallenged shot low through the jungle of players and into the bottom corner.
The halftime show celebrated the Stonewall Rainbow Laces campaign and reinforces Exeter City’s commitment that football is for everybody.
At Exeter City, we are proud to support this campaign and in the coming weeks will be our own bit to promote inclusivity and diversity within football, with more details of the clubs campaign activation to be announced very soon.
After the break Jack Sparkes hit the post with a brilliant free kick and Alex Fisher bundled the ball onto the line without reward. However, on 64 minutes City did break the stubborn Northampton resistance. Williams and Law worked a short corner. The winger darted into box and chipped to the far post. Aaron Martin bundled through and headed home much to the jubilation of the Big Bank.
The short corner seemed to be the Daily Catch for City. With the wind in their sails, Sparkes superbly cast the bait into the box and Alex Fisher leapt like a Salmon for two in as many minutes for the Grecians.
Sam Hoskins gave the away side hope after driving through the Exeter defence and side-footing the ball beyond Maxted but with only Verdaine Oliver’s half-hearted acrobatics to worry City, Matt Taylor’s men held on for a vital three points.
Exeter ended the day just three points behind leaders Swindon as Northampton dropped to seventh, however the less said about the next two meetings with the Cobblers, the better.
Exeter City: Maxted, Sweeney, A. Martin, Moxey, Williams, Atangana, Collins (Taylor 87’), Sparkes (Parkes 80’), Law, Bowman, Fisher (Seymour 80’)
Unused: Visser, L. Marin, Jay, Richardson
Northampton Town: Cornell, Goode, Turnbull, Wharton, Adams, McCormack (Kaja 73’), Lines, Hoskins, Anderson (Watson 58’), Williams (Smith 58’), Oliver
Ununsed: Arnold, J. Martin, Harriman, McWilliams.
Referee: Neil Hair
Attendance: 3,971