30th July 2022
Northampton Town vs Colchester United @ Sixfields Stadium - Northampton
EFL League Two
15:00 KO
£23 entry (pre-booking + booking fee)
Attendance - 5,463 (494 away fans)
Half-time score: Northampton Town 1-1 Colchester United
Goals:
Northampton Town: Hoskins - 27'
Colchester United: Sears - 42' (P)
Northampton Town: Hoskins - 74' (P)
Colchester United: Chilvers - 79'
Northampton Town: Haynes - 89'
Brief match highlights are on YouTube, see link below:
Final Score: Northampton Town 3-2 Colchester United
Here we are, at the end of July, welcoming in the beginning of a new season! Even though it is only a couple of weeks earlier, it does certainly feel odd to say that, a quirk of the fixtures directly impacted by the winter World Cup in Qatar. I hadn't necessarily planned to go on a big away day, but Northampton Town has been on the cards for a while, especially as my Nan lives just outside of Wellingborough, so of course I did pop in to see her en-route to Northampton. Having heard horror stories regarding parking and traffic in and around Sixfields, I decided to park in the town centre and walk the 30mins to the ground, aiming to get there for 2pm to collect my ticket. The walk took me through industrial estates, and a massive chimney-like structure was 'omnipresent' throughout Northampton, it could be seen from literally everywhere. Upon further research, turns out it is a national lift testing facility, 127.5m tall!
The ground look like a smaller, partially finished version of the U's ground and was decent whilst being non-descript, although it was pleasing to see a thriving fan zone and range of stalls outside. I picked up my pre-ordered tickets, was nice and simple and I also bought a hefty programme for £3, I was glad to see that the printed match-day programme is alive well in Northampton, and a decent one at that.
I made my way into the ground, and having just walked all the way to the ground with no lunch, I made a bee-line for the food stall and picked up my traditional favourite, a cheese burger. It was one of those pre-cooked ones kept in an hot box so was never going to win any awards, and as expected, it was distinctly average, but it was a decent size and filled a hole, perhaps a little pricy at over £4, but all prices have gone up recently I guess.
Being early, whilst watching the warm-up (where academy graduate Chay Cooper looked sharp in the shooting drill), I had time to reflect. Going into this season, despite some so-so performances in pre-season, and lack of marquee signings, I actually have high hopes for Col U this season as I believe the squad is strong, they certainly finished the 21/22 season on a high, and we managed to keep the core together, with the most notable losses being Brendan Wiredu to Fleetwood Town and Shamal George to Livingston. But, with players like Sears, Chilvers, Akinde, Judge, Nouble and Tchamadeu in the team, and with Clampin back off injury, I think we can give most teams a run for their money. However, the opening fixture is as tough as they come, the Cobblers are a serious outfit at this level, having only just missed out on promotion last season in spectacular fashion, and giving the U's a heavy beating in the last game, so I must admit that I would certainly have taken draw.
KEY MOMENTS
NT = Northampton Town
CU = Colchester United
10' - NT - A headed chance from a corner is saved on the line by keeper Hornby.
15' - CU - Akinde leaps high for a long ball and nods it down for Hannant coming in from the left wing, he breaks into the box and unleashes a fierce strike that is well saved, being pushed out for a corner.
27' - NT - GOAL (1-0) - Hylton picks up a high ball, turns and slots through Hoskins who runs onto the ball at pace and blasts in a high strike at the near-post, sending Hornby the wrong way in the process.
41' - CU - Chilvers attacks down the left, cuts into the box close to the by-line and is brought down in the box by Magloire, with the referee quickly pointing to the penalty spot.
42' - CU - GOAL (1-1) - Sears steps up to take the penalty, he blasts the ball towards the top left corner, and despite the keeper getting a hand to the ball, the pace on the ball is too much and it flies in.
71' - NT - A ball is crossed into the box and it hits the shoulder of Tchamadeu inside the box, and a penalty is awarded. Tchamadeu was only 1-2 yards from the kicker, with his hands behind his back, so certainly seemed harsh to me, and there were understandably a lot of protestations on the field that went on for a couple of minutes.
74' - NT - GOAL (2-1) - Already on one goal, Hoskins steps up to take the penalty, and hits the ball low and into the left-hand side netting, just out of reach of Hornby who picked the correct side and dived well, but the shot was simply too fast and accurate.
76' - CU - Eastman comes close with a headed effort from a corner, but he is unable to get quite enough on it to guide it home.
79' - CU - GOAL (2-2) - Some phenomenal work down the left wing by substitute and Col U legend Frank Nouble, skinning his man 3 times and running into the box along the by-line, squares the ball in to tee-up Chilvers, whose accurate left-footed effort across nestles into the goal trickles into the goal off the far post.
89' - NT - GOAL (3-2) - A long ball is lauched up to Hoskins on the right wing, he fires in a low ball, it missed the first pair of players at the near-post, beyond Hornby and to the far post where substitute Haynes gets in front of Hannant to slide the ball home.
97' - CU - Some neat interplay between Sears and Chilvers sees the latter through on goal, 1-on-1, but Burge holds his ground well to make an important save from close range, and to deny the U's a share of the spoils.
What a start to the 22/23 season with a 5-goal thriller, although it was disappointing that Col U were on the wrong end of the score. Encouragingly, the U's certainly deserved a point, they attacked well at times, and there was more fight, it was certainly a vast improvement compared to the last tie at Sixfields, against one of the stronger teams in the division. In particular, the cameo from Nouble was great, and I was impressed with Chay Cooper when he came on,. However, just like last season, the defence was poor and the team got bossed about in midfield, the team seems to really lack a strong spine, not helped by the sale of Wiredu, and with Huws out injured. As a final note, Northampton looked a solid outfit, with Hoskins and Hylton looking a handful. After all is said and done, it is only the first game, there are some encouraging signs and I hope that the U's push on and improve, UP THE U'S!!!
Line-Ups:
NORTHAMPTON TOWN: Lee Burge, Tyler Magloire, Sam Sherring, Jon Guthrie (C), Ali Koiki, Mitch Pinnock, Jack Sowerby, Shaun McWilliams, Sam Hoskins, Louis Appere, Danny Hylton. SUBS: Marc Leonard, Harvey Lintott, Jonny Maxted, Ryan Haynes, Peter Abimbola, Liam Cross, Max Dyche.
COLCHESTER UNITED: Sam Hornby, Ryan Clampin, Tom Eastman, Luke Chambers (C), Junior Tchamadeu, Cole Skuse, Luke Hannant, Alan Judge, Noah Chilvers, John Akinde, Freddie Sears. SUBS: Tom Dallison, Alex Newby, Cameron Coxe, Marley Marshall-Miranda, Chay Cooper, Ted Collins, Frank Nouble.
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