ALEX NICHOLLS scored his fourth goal of the season for the Cobblers but it could not prevent them from sustaining their first league defeat of the campaign, at Plymouth Argyle.
Town led 1-0 at half-time through Nicholls’ 27th-minute strike but a barrage from the hosts saw them scored three times after the interval and consign their opponents to a 3-2 loss, a scoreline improved by David Artell’s injury-time header.
The first handful of matches this season have already illustrated the recent progress that has been made by this team and while this game continued that trend it also highlights the problems that remain for manager Aidy Boothroyd.
On their last visit to Home Park a Northampton side with plenty of problems was routed, shipping four goals in a dreadful first half and going on to lose 4-1.
It was the final match they played before the arrival of Boothroyd as manager and the difference between their performance that bitter autumn afternoon and in this game was substantial, although the outcome was the same.
At no stage during the opening 45 minutes did the home side look like scoring and Nicholls was a livewire threat throughout.
The first 20 minutes were largely a containment exercise with nobody getting close enough to Akinfenwa to capitalise on his space-creating capabilities.
He started the move that led to the opening goal, reeling in a high ball and feeding Ben Tozer on the left wing, whose cross landed squarely at the feet of Nicholls.
Two defenders were right on top of the striker but they were almost too tight to him, and could not adjust to block as the former Walsall man swivelled and fired an shot beyond the despairing reach of goalkeeper Jake Cole.
But while Northampton were well on top in the first period, the second belonged to Plymouth.
They equalised through Warren Feeney’s flicked header as soon as it started and never looked back, enjoying both dominant periods or territorial possession and threats on the break.
They were well worth the lead they took on the hour mark although the goal came through fortuitous circumstances, Rhys Griffiths capitalising on a lucky delfection on a right-wing cross to present him with the ball in a position from which he could not miss.
Northampton’s best retaliatory play came through Nicholls, who saw a shot blocked over the bar when well placed before Plymouth added a victory-sealing third.
Robbie Williams clipped a ball into the box from the left-back position and Curtis Nelson, a central defender playing as an emergency striker, looped a header over Lee Nicholls, whose positioning found him in no man’s land.
A few brief attacking flurries followed for the visitors but although Artell added a consoling header from a long Tozer throw, Plymouth pocketed the three points.
Plymouth: Cole, Berry, Purse, Blanchard, Williams, Young, Wotton (Griffiths 46 (Nelson 69)), Hourihane, Bhasera, Cowan-Hall (MacDonald 35), Feeney
Subs not used: Chenoweth, Lennox, Gurrieri, Gorman
Northampton: L Nicholls, East, Artell, Langmead, Widdowson, Hackett (Mukendi 86), Tozer, Guttridge, Harding (Demontagnac 70), Akinfenwa (Platt 51), A Nicholls
Subs not used: Charles,Snedker, Wilson, Moult