Crewe boss Alex Morris perplexed by amount of stoppage time in Northampton draw

Posted Sunday, August 21, 2022 by PA

Controversial goals from Sam Hoskins and Courtney Baker-Richardson proved talking points as early season front-runners Crewe and Northampton shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw at Gresty Road.

Hoskins rescued the Cobblers’ unbeaten record when he arced home a corner so deep into stoppage time it left Alex boss Alex Morris perplexed.

Morris was sizing up a third success in three home outings as six minutes of added time was passed and Hoskins’ kick caught out young keeper Arthur Okonkwo with the clock showing an additional minute allowed by referee David Webb for a booking for home midfielder Dan Agyei.

While it irked the home boss, it was no more than Northampton deserved after they camped in the Crewe half for most of the second half.

Jon Brady’s Cobblers side trailed to two efforts from Baker-Richardson before Hoskins reduced the arrears prior to the break with his first goal of the afternoon.

Baker-Richardson drove a stunning strike into the top corner after he had robbed Tyler Magloire but Brady complained the striker had stood on the defender before unleashing his effort.

He said: “How the referee hasn’t picked that up as he was five yards away from it. It was a stamp on his (Magloire’s) back as he got ready to shoot.

“I don’t think it was deliberate as he’s not that sort of player (Baker-Richardson) but it was still a foul.

“But I’d rather focus on the way we dominated the play, we were banging on the door in the second half and it was pleasing to score late on.

“We kept on pushing and pushing and we should have won the game. But we showed great spirit and the pressure counted at the end.

“We’d worked on the corners during the week as the [Crewe] keeper is a young kid and he wasn’t fully on it, so Sam is brilliant at delivering those.

“Every week we talk about Sam because of the start to the season he is having but I thought young Harvey Lintott was amazing too and it was a good performance all round apart from the goals we conceded, one of which is a foul and the other we should have cleared.”

Baker-Richardson’s second was as tap-in from close range after Kelvin Mellor’s pull-back was pushed into his path.

Hoskins cut the arrears when he prodded in Kieron Bowie’s cross before the interval.

The Cobblers went close to levelling on several occasions, including when Magloire’s downward header from a corner was kept out by Okonkwo, before eventually the pressure told for the visitors with their late, late equaliser.

Morris said: “There were supposed to be six minutes of stoppage time but the ref said he added another one minute and 30 seconds on for Dan Agyei’s booking.

“That decision changed everything and 4,000 people went home gutted and dejected rather than jubilant.

“But despite that we can take the positives from that performance as we were up against one of the better teams in this league. We were competitive and we had energy and there was plenty of effort.

“It was a fantastic strike from Courtney who is always capable of doing that. While that was outstanding, his second was a proper striker’s goal.

“If we’d have won we’d have had an outstanding start to the season but to take 10 points from 15 is still a good start.”