10 places and 12 points separated Exeter City and Northampton Town in the League Two table ahead of their meeting at St James' Park on Saturday afternoon but the Cobblers travelled to Devon in better spirits after breaking their losing sequence with a point against Southend United last weekend.
Chris Wilder attributed the improvement to the signings he had made at the beginning of January and the Town boss again included new faces Taylor, Holmes and Moloney in his starting XI and full-back Moloney was involved as Northampton took the lead midway through the first half, setting up Marc Richards to head home.
Richards went close again before John Joe O'Toole doubled the visitors' lead just before the half-hour mark.
Having made his move to Exeter permanent during the week, Alex Nicholls entered the fray against his former club on 60 minutes in a bid to spark a comeback from his new side and he went close within minutes with a header that was saved by Matt Duke.
There was no spell of sustained pressure, however, as a series of substitutions and fouls broke up the game and allowed Northampton to see things out comfortably, much to the delight of their travelling fans.