The new season began with 5 players making their Sixfields debut against a very strong looking Crewe Alexandra side. The day began in glorious sunshine and the Cobblers looked very promising right from the off.
Town dominated most of the opening play but just lacked the edge in front of goal. Early chances saw Richard Hope head just wide of goal with Stamp and Spedding adding fairly harmless shots at keeper Clayton Ince.
The promising start to the new season fell apart when Daryn Stamp and Efe Sodje had a clash of heads and shortly after the restart Stamp hobbled off and was replaced with Marco Gabbiadini. The disruption to the side was almost immediate and Neil Sorvel took advantage of a mistake in the Cobblers defence to hit home from almost 20 yards.
One nil down going into the second half was a blow for the Cobblers after all the hard work in the first half but to their credit just kept battling away in the hope of getting something out of the game. Derek Asamoah came on for Paul McGregor midway through the half in a bid to make the vital breakthrough.
With little under 10 minutes left to go a run by Forrester who had beaten Sodje on a rare occasion in the game was brought down by Ince on the inside edge of the 18 yard box and screams of a penalty from the crowd amounted to nothing. The crowd who already have a dislike of referee Parkes from previous encounters were insenced by the decision and “you’re not fit to referee” could be heard from all around the stadium.
The game like so many in the past looked to have slipped away until barely 2 minutes from time Marco Gabbiadini blasted home from close range following a corner and a scramble right in Ince’s box. The Cobblers managed to hold on and take a well deserved point from an opposition that will surely be in the promotion race come next April.
The game showed the Cobblers will be no push over this season with this a battling side that will only get better from working together as a team. The game was only spoiled by the news of Darryn Stamp and if his opening 20 minutes are anything to go by, he will be sorely missed if out for any length of time.