Ten man Northampton demolished by promotion chasing Lincoln City

Northampton Town were mauled 4-0 by Lincoln City in a game that they ended with ten players.

Ryan One gave the hosts a first half lead, before second half goals by Jack Moylan, Ivan Varfolomeev and Rob Street saw the promotion chasing Imps rack up a big win to move up to 15 games unbeaten in League One.

The Cobblers had seen Jack Vale sent off with the score at 2-0, but were ultimately powerless to stop the hosts from taking the win.

With Blackpool, Doncaster and Burton all winning, it meant that Northampton dropped down to 20th in the League One table, with the Cobblers now a point above the bottom four, having played at least one game more than the teams around the team in the table. They would fall into the relegation zone if Wigan beat Luton tonight (18/02).

Lincoln took the lead after 11 minutes. Freddie Draper had already come close with a chance that was denied by away keeper Ross Fitzsimons, but the striker’s next trick would see him release One, who charged forward and duly scored.

The home side continued to have chances, with Sonny Bradley missing the target before Moylan had a strike denied by Fitzsimons. The keeper would then also deny Bradley in the final stages of the first half.

A second goal for Lincoln came in the opening stages of the second half, as Moylan intercepted a rushed clearance before advancing and slotting home to make it 2-0.

As if that wasn’t a bad enough to start to the second half for Kevin Nolan’s side, they soon were reduced to ten players, as striker Vale was shown a straight red card for a lunge on Lincoln’s Ben House.

Fitzsimons was forced into another flying save to keep out Street, but Northampton would fall 3-0 down after 72 minutes.

Ukrainian winger Varfolomeev picked up Moylan’s pass, before lashing a crisp 25 yard drive that flew beyond the reach of the Northampton keeper.

Three minutes after the Cobblers fell 3-0 down, it would be 4-0, as Street scored from close range.

Dom Jeffries would later hit the post and another strike denied by Fitzsimons, but there was no way back into things for the Cobblers, as they were on the wrong end of a thumping in a game where they had no shots on target.

The Cobblers face a big pair of home games coming up, as they welcome Leyton Orient and Port Vale sides currently in the relegation zone immediately below them in the table to Sixfields in their next two outings.