Crewe squandered two points as Derek Asamoah's late strike earned lowly Northampton a point at Gresty Road.
Steve Jones hit a brace for the home side, but weak defending let in the visitors for a point they merited on the balance of play.
Northampton were the brighter side in the opening 30 minutes.
Asamoah's half-volley from outside the box at the other caused anxiety as it flew wide off an Alex body.
The veteran Marco Gabbiadini's powerful drive from the edge of the box nearly caught out home keeper Ademole Bankole as it took a wicked deflection off Richard Walker but it arrowed just past the near post.
And when Crewe failed to clear the corner centre half Richard Hope climbed above the defence, but headed straight at the keeper.
The Nationwide Division Two high-fliers took the lead in the 38th minute, although they were indebted to a poor refereeing decision.
Paul Reid tried to cut out Kenny Lunt's pass through to Rob Hulse and when keeper Glyn Thompson scrambled across to gather, referee Paul Taylor gave the free kick for a dubious intentional back-pass.
Lunt played the kick back to Dave Brammer, who delivered a juicy ball to the far post where Jones headed in.
Then two minutes later David Vaughan extended the lead after Lunt's shot was blocked by Thompson by thrashing the rebound high into the net from eight yards out.
But the visitors hit back on the stroke of half time when Asamoah cut into the box and was tripped by Vaughan.
Gabbiadini fired the spot kick past Bankole, who was rooted to his line. More poor defending saw Hope take advantage of Jerry Gill's outswinging corner and plant a header unchallenged past Bankole from the edge of the six-yard box for a 62nd minute leveller.
Hulse should have restored Crewe's lead when he broke through shortly after, but he shot straight at Thompson's legs.
Jones then made up for the miss with his second of the game in the 70th minute. Lunt's free kick was headed on by Hulse into his strike partner's path and Jones pulled the ball into the far corner from the left of the box.
But some more laxness at the back proved Crewe's undoing and Asamoah pounced to fire home at the far post after Hope had headed down another corner nine minutes from time.
Crewe boss Dario Gradi groaned: "We have conceded seven goals in the last two games and scored five but you don't have to be clever to see where the blame lies.
“I'm disappointed we conceded two goals from corner kicks. It was very poor really.
Northampton hero Asamoah declared: "This was a great result for us and it could be the turning point in our season."