Northampton Town 2 Cheltenham Town 3
Substitute Darryl Duffy came out of the shadows to earn Cheltenham Town a superb 3-2 victory at Northampton Town this afternoon.
They had to come back from two goals down after a disastrous start at Sixfields, with Adebayo Akinfenwa giving Northampton the lead in the opening minute.
It was his ninth goal against the Robins as his hold over them continued. The big man applied a simple finish to Ishmel Demontagnac's pull-back.
Things worsened in the 13th minute when a long throw-in from Ben Tozer was turned into his own net by Billy Jones.
But Cheltenham then showed real grit to force their way back into the game.
A quick clearance from Scott Brown was seized upon by Chris Zebroski on the left wing.
He combined with Jake Taylor, who returned the ball to him and he beat his man before pulling back to Darren Carter, who scored his fourth goal of the season in the 24th minute.
Three minutes later Cheltenham were level when Jones' free-kick was nodded in by Zebroski, back in the side after missing the Hereford FA Cup tie through illness.
It was the former Bristol Rovers man's sixth goal of the season an it remained all-square at the break, but Cheltenham were the better side.
Akinfenwa smashed a shot against the bar in the 59th minute, but Cheltenham handled the man mountain far better in the second period.
They were rewarded in the 80th minute when Carter's perfectly weighted pass released Duffy, whose first touch set him up perfectly for what was to follow.
The Scotsman cracked a beautiful shot inside the bottom left corner, giving Lee Nicholls no chance and ending his long wait for a League goal stretching back to March 6.
NORTHAMPTON TOWN: L Nicholls; B Tozer, C Carlisle, K Langmead, J Widdowson; E Huws, B Harding, C Hackett, L Hornby (C Platt 64), I Demontagnac (J Robinson 64); A Akinfenwa. Subs not used: A Charles, D Snedker, H Mukendi, L Moult, D East.
CHELTENHAM TOWN: S Brown; S Jombati, A Bennett, S Elliott, B Jones; C Zebroski (D Duffy 72), R Penn, K Lowe, D Carter, J Taylor (M Pack 90); S Harrad (K Mohamed 72). Subs not used: S Deering, J McGlashan, C Roberts, L D'Ath.
REFEREE: A Davies.
ATTENDANCE: 4,625 (264 away).
STAR MAN: Darren Carter.
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