Sky Blues dumped out of FA Cup at the first hurdle by Northampton Town - The Coventry Observer

Sky Blues dumped out of FA Cup at the first hurdle by Northampton Town

Coventry Editorial 8th Nov, 2015 Updated: 28th Oct, 2016   0

THE FA Cup dream ended before it had really began for the Sky Blues after they were knocked out of the famous competition by League Two side Northampton Town.

The Cobblers caused one of the biggest upsets in the opening round on Saturday after coming away from the Ricoh Arena with hard-fought 2-1 victory.

Nicky Adams fired the visitors in front with a free kick on five minutes before Jacob Murphy equalised with a superb long range effort.

Marc Richards headed Northampton back in front with 17 minutes on the clock and despite dominating for the remainder of the match, the Sky Blues were unable to break down their opponents to the frustration of manager Tony Mowbray.




“We’re out of the FA Cup which is never a good thing and the performance wasn’t good enough,” said Mowbray.

“We can’t make excuses, we had a reasonably strong side out there who should be winning these games.


“Ultimately, our inability to defend crosses has been our downfall. We should be defending each goal much better and the players know that.

“They didn’t really cause any other problems other than putting the ball in our box. We dominated the possession in the second-half but we didn’t have the magic at the end of it.”

Winger Murphy was one of very few standout performers for the Sky Blues who fell to their first defeat of the season.

But the Norwich loanee paid tribute to Northampton’s defensive line, especially in the second period.

“It was a game we should have won,” Murphy added.

“Our tails were up after our goal, they got the goal soon after and it was an uphill task against them defending for the rest of the game.

“We had a few opportunities and we just couldn’t take one of them, they defended for 45 minutes and credit to them.

“We’ve got a lot of quality in the squad and there’s no excuses. We’ve lost at the Ricoh but we want to put things right on Saturday, we’re eager to get three points next weekend.”

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