Well what a reaction since the last home league game against Morecambe. There's been the usual cries of "Sack the manager," though this is very rarely the answer and often creates more problems than it causes. We've been knocked out of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy by Huddersfield Town in a game that was a vast improvement of the Morecambe affair and we weren't expecting much from it anyway. Our manager, Gary Johnson has had a few days off sick and was absent from our away trip to Southend. This again led the conspiracy theorists to debate the fact that he had probably resigned, been sacked, not phoned in sick, gone AWOL. The silence from the club over his "Illness" only added fuel to the fires burning around Northamptonshire, but illness is a personal thing and I for one would not like my own personal problems broadcast to the nation if I was off sick for a few days.
We struggled at Southend but rescued a point in a 2-2 draw, after Southend had scored arguably two goals of the season. Hard work paid off for the boys and a point was taken.
So that left another week for the rumours to spread and the doom mongers to flourish. It all gets a bit boring and not to say depressing, seeing your club's own "supporters" continually sniping and seemingly revelling in our misfortune. Will they be the same people celebrating success when it eventually comes our way.
So match day arrives again at Sixfields, today's opponents are Torquay United, currently riding high following early season successes in English League Division 2. It doesn't augur well for the Cobbler's as we are anchored 1 place above the relegation line. But it's early days yet and hopefully the season will be turned on its head come May 2012 when the prizes are handed out.
I don't know why I bother listening to BBC Radio Northampton on the way to the game - the doom mongers were broadcasting and by the time I arrived I felt totally depressed and nervous for the game. If we are to get any positive energy over to the players from the fans, this is not the best way to motivate the crowd. We know we haven't been playing that well, we know it's been a bit of a struggle to find some form but we need to approach every game individually and not keep carrying the baggage of despair with us. Come on lad's lighten it up a bit and raise the mood!
The mood was brightened somewhat by the guard of honour provided by the Carlsberg Girls for the teams before kick off. They all looked so please to be there!! Rumour had it that Jedward were making an appearance at today's game! Fortunately, I can report that they didn't show - what are they trying to do to us!
Players were kitted out for pre-match warm up in "British Heart Foundation" T shirts. (These would be a very apt sponsor for the Cobblers and the irony was not lost. I don't know whether they were arranged by My Johnson during his "Illness." Just wondering.
Anyway - much to the disappointment of a lot of the crowd none of the players tried to exchange shirts with the Carlsberg Girls - that would have raised a cheer!
The first forty five minutes were not the most exciting ever witnessed at Sixfields with both sides desperate to give the ball away to the other. Chances at both ends continued to be missed. We still looked a bit shaky in the centre of defence but we held firm and managed to protect our net. On a bright sunny afternoon in Northampton, the floodlights shone in all their glory. We are obviously a rich club to be able to run the lights in daylight and it's nice to see that the local council have allowed us to keep all four pylons fully lit and not turned off every 3 in 4 as they have done across the county!
Thought I was going to hit a crisis at half time when I found the fruit gum packet was empty. Normal service was restored when I realised they had fell out in my pocket.
It's strange sitting watching the games this season without my son at my side. He has now taken up residency in Greenwich and is living the "life" of a student. I decided to update him by text, hoping I wasn't going to get him out of bed, only to get an immediate text reply saying that he was following the game on Cobblers Player - That's my boy!!!
Texts also exchanged between Sixfields and Madejski Stadium, home of Reading FC where I find my brother drowning his half time sorrows with the fact that they are losing 1-0 to Watford. He reported that "Manset was playing well and the new left back looked useful. Apart from that the rest of them needed a Tazer!" Good job he closed his Twitter account after his last adventure!!!!
Second half and Cobblers dominated the game. Bayo should have had a hat trick, (We must use goals that are two foot higher in training), Lewis Young missed one-on-one with keeper, Jacobs free kick beaten away by keeper, Tozer unlucky near end. We could have had a hatful!!
The game was being orchestrated by Arron Davies. (Personally I haven't been impressed so far but I'm the first to acknowledge when someone puts in a shift). Second half he was first class. Unfortunately he tweaked a Hamstring with about 15 minutes to go and we seemed to lose a bit of momentum after he left the pitch. Keep it going Arron that was more like the player you are rumoured to be.
So the whistle finally blew on the afternoon's entertainment with the Cobblers having to settle for a share of the points. I would imagine Torquay will be quite content to go away with a) a clean sheet and b) a point.
Very dissapointed to hear boos at the end of the game and it would probably be better all round if those people chose not to turn up rather than have a go at a team that had performed well on the afternoon. As I've already mentioned in previous post, "Frustration, although painful at times, is a very positive and essential part of success."
I don't know whether we've turned a corner but what I do know is that the team worked hard thjis afternoon and were unlucky not to win. A bit more shooting practice required by all please and it's only a matter of time before we wallop someone. (Crawley, (Hot favourites for promotion this season), got thrashed 6-0 at Morecambe this afternoon. Puts our result in perspective really. It may be that Morecambe are the team of the moment and our "Black" Saturday of a couple of weeks ago is not that bad after all.
Come On Cobblers...Come On!!
