Match 27
5th January 1985
Northampton (a)
Iley stays tight lipped.
Northampton 5-2 Exeter City
CITY manager Jim Iley was tight lipped and angry as he stalked away from the County Ground after his team had equalised twice, but ended up being slammed for five goals for the second time in only five days. The only comment I have to make is no comment," said lley as he climbed aboard the team coach, probably to spend the long trip home to Devon pondering over City's plight five places off the foot of the Football League. After their 5-1 crash at Port Vale on New Year's Day, Iley's team defended in depth at Northampton with five men in a line at the back on a snowy pitch. They broke out to level the scores twice, and at times in the second half panicked the home back four into errors. But Phil Coleman limped away from the battle after 72 minutes and City were still one short when lan Benjamin fired in the first of a match winning hat-trick, two minutes later. Northampton manager Tony Barton summed up: "When it was 2-2 it could have gone either way but I was very disappointed because I felt Exeter were not a patch on us as a side." But it was our fault. We had let them back into the game and I was delighted when lan produced such good finishing to swing it for us. On the first day of the season we let in five at Exeter, so I suppose this was justice of a kind. In their previous match Northampton beat Torquay United 3-1 with left-winger Phil Cavener hitting a hat-trick but on New Year's Day they led 2-0 at Stockport only to lose 4-2. On Saturday it was all Northampton from the start with Mike Perry Aidy Mann and Benjamin all going close in the first 10 minutes, But, when the home team did score it came from a controversial decision by referee Keith Miller after 24 minutes. With the covering of snow blending with the mud the conditions were difficult for the players, but Mr. Miller decided City goalkeeper Jeff Wood had pushed 6ft. 5in. home centre- back Wakeley Gage after a corner and Cavener scored from the spot. Trevor Lee split the Exeter defence to send Benjamin through for a shot that curled just wide, but after 36 minutes City equalised in only their second real attack. Danny O'Shea floated in a free kick and Jim McNichol headed in. Within a minute Cavener ran on to a right wing cross to score his second and send Northampton back in front. Manager Barton blamed his static defenders for Exeter's second equaliser, which came in the 51st minute but Ray Pratt opened the gap for Trevor Morgan with an expert lob and Morgan ran through to finish the job. Northampton continued 10 show their jitters at the back, and both O'Shea and Pratt were close to connecting in goalmouth scrambles. Then Pratt pressured Geoff Scott into a back pass that goalkeeper Peter Gleasure only just grabbed. But, after 72 minutes, Coleman went down with an ankle injury and had to go off. He was still limping to the tunnel with substitute Howarth warming up when Benjamin played a one-two with Lee before shooting Northampton back into the lead. With four minutes to go the home striker beat Wood from 18 yards and his low drive went in off the far post. Then in the final minute Cavener crossed and Benjamin sided-footed in his third.
Star players -
NORTHAMPTON: Ian Benjamin,
EXETER: Danny O'Shea.
Northampton 5-2 Exeter City
CITY manager Jim Iley was tight lipped and angry as he stalked away from the County Ground after his team had equalised twice, but ended up being slammed for five goals for the second time in only five days. The only comment I have to make is no comment," said lley as he climbed aboard the team coach, probably to spend the long trip home to Devon pondering over City's plight five places off the foot of the Football League. After their 5-1 crash at Port Vale on New Year's Day, Iley's team defended in depth at Northampton with five men in a line at the back on a snowy pitch. They broke out to level the scores twice, and at times in the second half panicked the home back four into errors. But Phil Coleman limped away from the battle after 72 minutes and City were still one short when lan Benjamin fired in the first of a match winning hat-trick, two minutes later. Northampton manager Tony Barton summed up: "When it was 2-2 it could have gone either way but I was very disappointed because I felt Exeter were not a patch on us as a side." But it was our fault. We had let them back into the game and I was delighted when lan produced such good finishing to swing it for us. On the first day of the season we let in five at Exeter, so I suppose this was justice of a kind. In their previous match Northampton beat Torquay United 3-1 with left-winger Phil Cavener hitting a hat-trick but on New Year's Day they led 2-0 at Stockport only to lose 4-2. On Saturday it was all Northampton from the start with Mike Perry Aidy Mann and Benjamin all going close in the first 10 minutes, But, when the home team did score it came from a controversial decision by referee Keith Miller after 24 minutes. With the covering of snow blending with the mud the conditions were difficult for the players, but Mr. Miller decided City goalkeeper Jeff Wood had pushed 6ft. 5in. home centre- back Wakeley Gage after a corner and Cavener scored from the spot. Trevor Lee split the Exeter defence to send Benjamin through for a shot that curled just wide, but after 36 minutes City equalised in only their second real attack. Danny O'Shea floated in a free kick and Jim McNichol headed in. Within a minute Cavener ran on to a right wing cross to score his second and send Northampton back in front. Manager Barton blamed his static defenders for Exeter's second equaliser, which came in the 51st minute but Ray Pratt opened the gap for Trevor Morgan with an expert lob and Morgan ran through to finish the job. Northampton continued 10 show their jitters at the back, and both O'Shea and Pratt were close to connecting in goalmouth scrambles. Then Pratt pressured Geoff Scott into a back pass that goalkeeper Peter Gleasure only just grabbed. But, after 72 minutes, Coleman went down with an ankle injury and had to go off. He was still limping to the tunnel with substitute Howarth warming up when Benjamin played a one-two with Lee before shooting Northampton back into the lead. With four minutes to go the home striker beat Wood from 18 yards and his low drive went in off the far post. Then in the final minute Cavener crossed and Benjamin sided-footed in his third.
Star players -
NORTHAMPTON: Ian Benjamin,
EXETER: Danny O'Shea.
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