Match report: Northampton 1 - 1 Huddersfield Town

Jan 12 2009 by Dougie Thomson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

LEE CLARK was robbed of his first away win as Town manager by Adebayo Akinfenwa’s cruel stoppage-time strike.

Northampton, who had defender Jason Crowe sent off in the 74th minute, will claim their performance over the entire match merited a share of the spoils.

But the loss of two points was tough to take as Town, for whom Andy Booth made a surprise comeback appearance from the bench, came so close to victory.

The game was two minutes and 20 seconds over regulation time when former Swansea striker Akinfenwa drilled in the shot which cancelled out Phil Jevons’ goal for Town.

The former Bristol City man fired home his first goal of the season direct from a 65th minute free-kick awarded when he was fouled by Abdul Osman 25 yards out.

The strike, past a five-man wall plus Town defender Andy Butler, sailed into keeper Chris Dunn’s right-hand corner, right in front of Town’s 1,038 contingent of fans in a 5,110 crowd.

And when Crowe was shown a straight red card for a professional foul on Gary Roberts, hopes were high that the visitors would hold out on a pitch which, with the temperature falling, appeared to become more treacherous as the game wore on.

Frustratingly, Clark had already voiced his disapproval at the concession of a free-kick by Ian Craney a minute earlier when his side again yielded possession needlessly.

This time Michael Collins tried to play a pass which was intercepted and led to Osman breaking down the left.

The midfielder whipped in a cross and substitute Joe Benjamin got a touch before Akinfenwa applied the decisive finish with a low drive to Alex Smithies’ right.