Northampton Town beaten by single goal on trip to AFC Wimbledon

Northampton Town remain in the League One relegation zone after a 1-0 defeat away at AFC Wimbledon.

One goal was enough for the Cobblers to lose in South West London, with Callum Maycock scoring the match’s only strike inside the opening ten minutes at the Cherry Red Records Stadium.

Victory would’ve seen Northampton close the gap on 20th place Blackpool, with a comfortable win even seeing them leapfrog the Seasiders, but defeat means that Kevin Nolan’s side remain 3 points from safety and 23rd in the League One table going into their final 10 games of the campaign.

Northampton had won on their previous trip to AFC Wimbledon when they won there in the EFL Trophy last month, and in their first game after their dreams of Wembley were ended by Luton in midweek, the Cobblers arrived seeking a win in the capital.

Those hopes were hindered, however, when they fell behind early on. The hosts had already come close when Myles Hippolyte headed wide, but with ten minutes on the clock, AFC Wimbledon opened the scoring. Marcus Browne was picked out by Steve Seddon and his backheel fell kindly for Maycock to beat Lee Burge and give the home side the advantage.

Cameron McGeehan had a strike deflected wide as the away side sought a quick leveller, but better chances fell the way of Johnnie Jackson’s side, as James Tilley saw one effort just bounce off target and another denied by Lee Burge.

Northampton struggled to get going in attack, and AFC Wimbledon missed further opportunities to make it 2-0, as Maycock saw a firm drive repelled by Burge before Tilley saw a firm strike narrowly crash past the target.

Having managed to make it to half-time only one goal behind, Northampton then offered more signs of attacking life after the break, with Jake Evans denied by AFC keeper Joe McDonnell.

The Leicester loanee was proving to be the Cobblers’ main attacking threat, with McDonnell then saving Evans’ strike from the edge of the box and then again denying Evans when he had a go from a tight angle.

Northampton’s attack soon struggled to make chances with the same fluency, however, and they nearly fell 2-0 down when Omar Bugiel had a shot deflected wide before Browne’s effort on target from the corner was blocked on the line by Sam Hoskins.

Despite there being five minutes added on, Northampton couldn’t find an equaliser, with their best chance in the additional time seeing Jack Vale head over.

The result condemned the Cobblers to defeat in front of the Sky Sports cameras, with Northampton looking to bounce back when they host Burton Albion next weekend.