Northampton Town 2-1 Bristol Rovers
Sky Bet League One, Sixfields Stadium, Saturday 22 February 2025
Bristol Rovers fell to a 2-1 defeat in Sky Bet League One away to Northampton Town.
The Gas had taken the lead early in the second half when Scott Sinclair coolly finished after striding confidently into the box.
But the Cobblers bit back through Dara Costelloe, who headed in after the hosts did well to recycle possession just after an hour was played.
The home side’s fightback was complete with 12 minutes left of the fixture. Substitute Nesta Guinness-Walker made an immediate mark, side-footing in a volley to inflict an away defeat on Rovers.
Iñigo Calderón made two changes to the starting XI from the midweek defeat at Wycombe Wanderers. Jack Hunt returned in defence while Matt Butcher was reinstated, having missed out against his parent club on Tuesday evening.
A frantic start at Sixfields saw captain Sinclair go close to tapping in Luke Thomas’ deflected effort inside the opening two minutes before Ruel Sotiriou forced Nik Tzanev into a smart save moments later.
A swift breakaway on eleven minutes looked promising for the Gas, as Sotiriou pulled away from the Cobblers’ defence and teed up Thomas, but his shot was blocked away.
As the match settled down into a less chaotic rhythm, Northampton came uncomfortably close to opening the scoring in bizarre circumstances. Cameron McGeehan’s effort across the Rovers penalty box smashed into the back-tracking Isaac Hutchinson, wrong-footing Jed Ward and almost seeing the ball skew wildly in at the near post.
Goalkeeper Ward was called into action properly with five minutes left of the first half; his low save stopped Mitchell Pinnock from half-volleying Northampton Town into a half-time lead.
A perfect start to the second half saw Rovers take the lead inside one minute. Hutchinson found Sinclair on the left, with the skipper driving with intent into the penalty area before smartly sending a low finish into the bottom right corner via the post.
Northampton went on the immediate hunt for the leveller. Terry Taylor rippled a half-volley into the side netting at the near post before Liam Shaw fired over for the hosts.
Sinclair went agonisingly close to doubling his personal tally when he found himself in the same position he scored from on the hour-mark, but Tzanev was level to the effort on this occasion.
It would prove vital too, as Northampton netted moments later. A recycled cross into the box was headed past Ward by Costelloe, bringing the game back level.
And the hosts comeback was completed on 78 minutes when substitute Guinness-Walker struck with his first touch, volleying in at the near post to give all three points to Northampton Town.
Northampton Town: Tzanev, McGowan © (Baldwin 90), Hoskins, Pinnock, Costelloe (Perry 88), Taylor, McGeehan, Odimayo, Fosu (Guinness-Walker 77), Shaw, Dyche
Subs not used: Burge, Willis, Wilson, Hondermarch,
Goals: Costelloe 61, Guinness-Walker 78
Bristol Rovers: Ward, Sousa, Wilson, Sinclair ©, Sotiriou (Lindsay 48), Thomas (Reindorf 81), Taylor, Martin, Hutchinson, Butcher, Hunt
Subs not used: Roberts (GK), Senior, Moore, Swinkels, Shaw
Goals: Sinclair 46,
Booked: Taylor, Wilson
Referee: Matthew Russell
Attendance: 6,996 (799 away)
