Northampton Town 3 - 0 Coventry City (ten men)

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Cobblers down ten man Sky Blues



Coventry City’s relegation woes are only marginally more intense after Keshi Anderson’s hat-trick exacted maximum punishment for Jordan Willis’s early red card .

They remain four points adrift at the bottom and eight off the safety line – one worse than at the start of play.

But this will go down as one of the more depressing days in their recent history as the fans’ frustration boiled over to halt the game on four occasions and for an aggregate of 16 minutes.

The FA will doubtless take punitive action in the way of fines and possibly points deductions.

And having been crushed by a side whose recent form has been pathetic by any other standards it’s difficult to imagine how they can turn the tide over the remaining 18 games of a disastrous season.

After the midweek shake-up at Swansea, Russell Slade reverted to a variation of the 3-4-2 formation that almost worked in their last league outing against Fleetwood – new loan recruit Charles Vernam in the pocket behind seasoned strike partners Stuart Beavon and Marcus Tudgay.

In contrast to the sepulchral mood that marked the Sky Blues’ ill-conceived spell as Sixfields tenants there was a crackling atmosphere at kick-off with the 1,500 travelling fans in fine voice.

Some of them, however, arrived with pyrotechnic intentions and the game was halted after ten minutes when four blue flares were lobbed on to the pitch from behind Lee Burge’s goal.

The action resumed after four minutes and promptly produced the first real goalmouth threat, Cobblers scrambling the ball away after Clarke had headed Reilly’s corner back into the middle.

Three minutes later, however, the game took a decisive turn as Willis dived into a touchline tackle on Buchanan. He seemed to win the ball but referee Probert ruled it was dangerously uncontrolled and red carded the City skipper.

Northampton quickly tried to exploit their extra-man advantage, Buchanan suddenly forgetting the heavy limp he had been affecting since the incident to play a sprightly role in a move that saw Burge save well from Boateng.

Slade sacrificed Thomas to send on Kelly-Evans and switch to a back-four but the game promptly suffered another five-minute stoppage when a couple more flares were thrown and, more significantly, three pitch invaders made their way to the centre-circle before being frog-marched off by police and stewards.

This time the PA announced that any repetition would see the match abandoned and the rest of the half, incorporating what must have been a bare minimum of nine added minutes, passed with no further spectator disruption and little real action on the pitch as City’s ten men defended resolutely.

City were kicking towards their own fans in the second half but the flow was very much in the opposite direction as the Sky Blues tried to protect their point with a 4-3-2 formation.

Shots from Anderson and Bardsley were straight at Burge but the keeper was left fatally exposed in the 53rd minute as Richards’s pass found Anderson in yards of space down the left and he picked his spot inside the near post.

Cue more flares, another delay and, in the 63rd minute, a killing second goal.

Burge tipped Anderson’s deflected shot over the bar but although the keeper made another sharp save from the subsequent corner the ball bounced to Anderson who hooked home acrobatically.

Slade threw on Rose and Jones to top up his side’s energy levels but Cobblers should have made it three seconds later – O’Toole heading over an open goal from inside the six-yard box.

Anderson showed no such generosity three minutes later, sliding home from ten yards when Boateng rolled the ball into his path.

Anderson was promptly substituted to a hero’s reception but half-a-dozen City fans staged a mini pitch invasion which necessitated a fourth stoppage as many more chose that moment to head for home.

Those who remained almost had a late consolation as Haynes dribbled through brilliantly only to slip (possibly on one of the mounds of flare-dousing sand) as he shaped to shoot.

The young back-connected perfectly in injury-time – a fierce 30-yarder forcing Smith into a full-length save – but the final whistle arrived as a relief to supporters who could only cheer themselves with defiant ‘always look on the bright side’ chants.

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Arrests made over Coventry City game disruption



Nine men have been arrested over a pitch invasion and flares being thrown at a football match.

Northampton Town's League One 3-0 home win over Coventry City was disrupted several times by fans on Saturday.

Northamptonshire Police said six arrests were made when spectators from the away stand invaded the pitch and a further three when flares were let-off.

Coventry City said the disruption was "unacceptable". Northampton declined to comment. Those arrested were bailed.

Northampton Town said it would not comment until a decision was made by the Football Association or English Football League on an investigation.

"The repeated disruptions to yesterday's match at Northampton Town were unacceptable," a Coventry City spokesman said.

"Coventry City FC will support all subsequent investigations by the police and football authorities."

Match reports said the fans were protesting against the Coventry club's owners.

Supt Chris Hillery said: "During the fixture we were made aware that some of the spectators in the away South Stand had planned a mass pitch incursion at a designated time.

"As a result, match officials turned off the scoreboard time display and officers were placed in front of the West Stand and in the players' tunnel to prevent people intent on disorder entering these areas en masse."

There was no serious disorder, violence or injury, police said.

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Coventry City fans fined for anti-Sisu pitch invasion at Northampton Town



Three Coventry City fans have been fined for invading the pitch at Northampton Town in protest at club owners Sisu.

Adam Howells, Paul Sulley and Dean Thomas took to the Sixfields pitch during the League One game against the Cobblers in January, with Howells pictured waving a flare.

The invasion was part of the pals’ ongoing protest against London-based hedge fund Sisu and afterwards they said: “We’d rather be banned than not be heard.”

The three friends were immediately handed three-month football bans by the police, which meant they couldn’t leave their homes when the Sky Blues were playing at home as they all live within a three-mile radius of the Ricoh Arena.

Howells and Sulley appeared at Wellingborough Magistrates’ Court on Monday when they were both fined but avoided being given a further football banning order.

Howells, 38, was fined £700 plus costs, while Sulley’s fine was £690 plus costs for entering the playing surface at the game without lawful excuse.

Thomas had appeared in court at an earlier hearing, where he was unrepresented, and was handed a three-year football banning order, as well as a fine and costs.

Speaking to the Telegraph today, Howells said: “It was great in a way that we got (what was happening at Coventry City) in to the news.

“I was contacted by people from all over the country after it happened.

“But the financial penalty I now have, having spent £1,500 on legal help plus the fine, maybe we could have done it another way in hindsight.”

The fixture against Northampton on January 28 - which the Sky Blues lost 3-0 - was disrupted on a number of occasions as anti-Sisu sentiment spilled over from the travelling Sky Blue Army.

The actions of Howells, Sulley and Thomas - plus other fans who also took to the field that day - saw them described by some as “heroes”, while others said “these people are not heroes, they are halfwits”.