Northampton Town gave their survival hopes a huge boost with a richly deserved 2-0 victory over promotion-chasing Plymouth Argyle.
Goals either side of half-time were enough to hand the Cobblers only a second win in 12 games and bring them to within two points of safety, denting Plymouth's hopes of a play-off place.
Northampton took the game to their in-form visitors from the first whistle and should have had the lead when Sam Hoskins capitalised on a mistake from Gary Sawyer before shooting straight at Remi Matthews.
Hoskins was denied by Matthews for a second time but, seconds later, John-Joe O'Toole poked in Daniel Powell's low cross to hand the hosts a deserved lead at half-time.
The Cobblers were even more dominant in the second half and duly added to their lead just after the hour-mark when, after Matt Crooks went close, defender Zak Vyner turned Powell's cross into his own net.
The home side had further chances to rack up a more convincing victory but Powell, Hoskins and O'Toole were all denied by the outstanding Matthews.
English League One Standings
POS | Team | GP | GD | PTS |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sheffield Wednesday | 28 | +30 | 61 |
2 | Plymouth Argyle | 29 | +21 | 61 |
3 | Ipswich Town | 29 | +25 | 55 |
4 | Derby County | 28 | +24 | 53 |
5 | Bolton Wanderers | 30 | +15 | 53 |
6 | Barnsley | 27 | +10 | 47 |
7 | Peterborough United | 27 | +13 | 44 |
8 | Wycombe Wanderers | 28 | +11 | 44 |
9 | Shrewsbury Town | 29 | +5 | 44 |
10 | Portsmouth | 27 | +2 | 38 |
11 | Exeter City | 29 | +1 | 38 |
12 | Charlton Athletic | 28 | +4 | 37 |
13 | Bristol Rovers | 29 | -9 | 37 |
14 | Port Vale | 28 | -11 | 36 |
15 | Oxford United | 30 | -2 | 35 |
16 | Lincoln City | 27 | -3 | 34 |
17 | Fleetwood Town | 28 | -2 | 29 |
18 | Cheltenham Town | 28 | -12 | 29 |
19 | Milton Keynes Dons | 29 | -13 | 28 |
20 | Burton Albion | 28 | -19 | 28 |
21 | Morecambe | 28 | -14 | 27 |
22 | Cambridge United | 28 | -23 | 26 |
23 | Accrington Stanley | 26 | -20 | 25 |
24 | Forest Green Rovers | 30 | -33 | 21 |
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