There can be no excuses today, whoever it is whose job it is to bring the box of luck left it behind.
The stats on the BBC website say it all. Stanley could and should have netted three times. A bit of luck and it could have been five. The Cobblers didn't look that good to my eye and, I suspect, will be secretly admitting they got out of jail today. Other than a couple of deflections in the first half, they didn't really threaten Stanley's goal. The back four again were solid, young Mr.Halliday in particular making his presence felt. His, and Piero's late substitutions were not because either was playing badly. McConville had a much better game than at Satanage, and was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet.
Couldn't see it that well from where we were sitting, but I thought their goal was either a bit of luck or the most astute header. He seemed to head it into the ground so it bounced up over
Mooney.
If there is one criticism I have is this obsession the team have with goal kicks. The opposition have twigged that Mooney will look to pass sideways to Pearson, so they stay up, and put the defender under pressure, often before he's got the ball. When it doesn't end in panic stations, the best result seems to be a hoof upfield from the left back. Quite how this results in anything better than the keeper taking a traditional goal kick is beyond me. Maybe some Premier League teams can play it out from the bye line but in League 2 it rarely seems to come off. Certainly their goal came directly from Stanley "fannying around" (to quote Mrs.Exile) in the box near the bye line, instead of giving it a damn good clearance. I wonder what Deano was thinking as he sat there watching the result?
But, that small gripe aside, the entire team gave it their all, again. They were just unlucky today.