Accrington Stanley 1 - 5 Northampton Town - Richards at the double

Posted Sunday, February 01, 2015 by PA

Marc Richards made it 15 goals for the season as his brace helped 10-man Northampton thrash Accrington 5-1.

The Cobblers got off to a dream start when a long Matt Duke ball forward was collected by Ricky Holmes on five minutes and his shot found the back of the net via the underside of the crossbar.

The second came when Adam Buxton brought down Holmes in the area and Richards fired home the penalty in the 32nd minute - although Arsenal loan keeper Matt Macey did get a hand to it.

Northampton were cruising but then Stanley's West Ham loanee Sean Maguire burst through with Ryan Cresswell bringing him down and, as last man, the defender saw red and referee David Webb again pointed to the spot in the 39th minute.

Captain Luke Joyce's penalty was saved by Duke but Piero Mingoia fired home the rebound to make it 2-1 at the break.

Stanley upped the pace after the interval but were wasteful and Town broke from a corner with Jason Taylor passing to Lawson D'ath, who chipped the ball over the stranded Macey to make it 3-1 after 65 minutes.

Then a mix-up in the Stanley defence between Rob Atkinson and Macey two minutes later allowed D'Ath to nick the ball and he squared to Richards to blast into the empty net.

It was five when D'ath was put clean through on 80 minutes and finished calmly to pile on the misery for Stanley, who have suffered four successive losses.