| 1 | Leicester City | 43 | 13 | 8 | 1 | 39 | 14 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 38 | 23 | 25 | 14 | 4 | 77 | 37 | 89 | +40 | ||||
| 2 | Peterborough United | 43 | 13 | 5 | 3 | 38 | 20 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 36 | 32 | 24 | 10 | 9 | 74 | 52 | 82 | +22 | ||||
| 3 | Millwall | 43 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 28 | 20 | 12 | 3 | 6 | 31 | 26 | 24 | 7 | 12 | 59 | 46 | 79 | +13 | ||||
| 4 | Milton Keynes Dons | 42 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 42 | 24 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 38 | 22 | 23 | 9 | 10 | 80 | 46 | 78 | +34 | ||||
| 5 | Leeds United | 43 | 15 | 2 | 4 | 43 | 19 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 27 | 29 | 23 | 6 | 14 | 70 | 48 | 75 | +22 | ||||
| 6 | Tranmere Rovers | 43 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 40 | 19 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 19 | 25 | 21 | 9 | 13 | 59 | 44 | 72 | +15 | ||||
| 7 | Scunthorpe United | 41 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 40 | 22 | 9 | 3 | 9 | 33 | 34 | 21 | 7 | 13 | 73 | 56 | 70 | +17 | ||||
| 8 | Southend United | 43 | 12 | 2 | 7 | 27 | 18 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 28 | 40 | 20 | 7 | 16 | 55 | 58 | 67 | -3 | ||||
| 9 | Huddersfield Town | 43 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 30 | 26 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 26 | 34 | 17 | 12 | 14 | 56 | 60 | 63 | -4 | ||||
The game's are running out!
Northampton have now failed to beat Southend in their last ten attempts and this disappointment left them still locked in the final relegation place, although three of their five remaining matches are at home.
Southend were a goal ahead at the break, courtesy of a 38th minute header by Jean-Francois Christophe, who was returning to the side in place of Anthony Grant, as the only change from the home defeat by MK Dons on Good Friday.
Christophe rose decisively to head in a corner from Franck Moussa, which was the least Southend deserved in a first half that they tried to play all the decent football.
So there we were basking in the spring sunshine wondering how many goals we were going to stack up against a less than average Northampton side, the two centre backs must be amongst the poorest in the division, when, well you know what was going to happen.
The home side got level five minutes after the break when a Danny Jackman cross eventually fell to the feet of Adebayo Akinfenwa and the striker had time to fire home his 14th goal of the season. Poor defending, not something we've had to worry about that much post-Dervite.
So from nowhere the bottom four side were back in the match and Akinfenwa then headed wide from a good opening.
However, normal service was resumed when Southend scored twice within a five-minute spell to grab a matchwinning lead.
Firstly; Theo Robinson ran on to a pass from Damien Scannell and rammed home a low shot which beat home keeper Chris Dunn inside his left-hand post. (That's now 7 goals for Theo and 7 wins when he's scored!)
Then; and you know he would do it over Easter, Lee Barnard, who played three times for Town on-loan four years ago, was sent clear by a clever lob from Macca and jinked his way past a defender and the home keeper, before poking the ball into an empty net for his 10th goal of an injury wrecked season.
Jackman almost reduced the arrears in the 67th minute with a brilliant free-kick which Steve Mildenhall tipped over the crossbar in acrobatic fashion, while at the other end Dunn denied the hard working Macca.
Of course Blues couldn't make it easy and Northampton grabbed themselves a lifeline with ten minutes to go when substitute Aleksander Prijovic rammed home a loose ball in the box after the Southend defence failed to deal with a long throw by Andy Holt.
There was still time for Theo to fire narrowly wide for Southend, while the referee decided to add five minutes of stoppage time, even giving a stupid free-kick to the Cobblers which Clarkey got booked arguing about, but the drawf Jackman hit high and wide over Big Steve's goal.
Three very well earned points for the Shrimpers but sadly both Tranmere and Scunthorpe won. Oh well, on to league leaders Leicester at the Hall on Saturday.
Tilly was full of pride for his boys and you can read his post match reaction here:
www.southendunited.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10444~1625584,00.html
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