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 | Hull City | 23 | +20 | 45 |
2 | Lincoln City | 22 | +15 | 45 |
3 | Peterborough United | 22 | +15 | 42 |
4 | Portsmouth | 22 | +18 | 41 |
5 | Doncaster Rovers | 20 | +14 | 39 |
6 | Charlton Athletic | 24 | +5 | 37 |
7 | Sunderland | 22 | +12 | 36 |
8 | Crewe Alexandra | 24 | +5 | 36 |
9 | Ipswich Town | 21 | +3 | 35 |
10 | Accrington Stanley | 19 | +4 | 33 |
11 | Oxford United | 21 | +5 | 31 |
12 | Fleetwood Town | 23 | +7 | 30 |
13 | Gillingham | 23 | -3 | 30 |
14 | Plymouth Argyle | 23 | -8 | 30 |
15 | Milton Keynes Dons | 23 | 0 | 28 |
16 | Blackpool | 21 | -3 | 28 |
17 | Shrewsbury Town | 21 | -5 | 24 |
18 | Rochdale | 23 | -8 | 23 |
19 | Bristol Rovers | 21 | -11 | 22 |
20 | AFC Wimbledon | 23 | -15 | 22 |
21 | Northampton Town | 22 | -18 | 22 |
22 | Wigan Athletic | 22 | -14 | 21 |
23 | Swindon Town | 23 | -16 | 21 |
24 | Burton Albion | 24 | -22 | 16 |
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