Fleetwood Town fell to a 3-0 defeat on the road to Northampton Town at Sixfields Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

A quickfire brace from the hosts by Mitch Pinnock and Sam Hoskins in the first half - each grabbing one apiece, adding on to another grabbed late on by Pinnock was enough for the Cobblers to pick up all three points on a blustery afternoon in Northamptonshire.

It took the home side three minutes to have the first shot of the game as Hoskins, who was recently named League One’s Player of the Month, managed to control a wild ball into him before firing straight at Jay Lynch, who collected on his second attempt.

Town responded to this with immediate effect and produced a great chance of their own as Jack Marriott forced a brilliant save from Max Thompson, between the home side’s sticks, after latching onto Adam Montgomery’s low cross from the left.

The home side then had a flurry of chances, which Lee Johnson and his men would be proud to keep out as Shaun McWilliams, Pinnock, Hoskins, and Kieron Bowie respectively all saw their names in lights as they tried to break the deadlock, but the score stayed at nil-nil.

Marriott thought he’d been given an easy chance as Ryan Broom’s cross looked to come to him in the Northampton box, but the home defence did just enough to knock it out of his path and eventually clear the ball away from danger.

Town’s defence collapsed around the half-hour mark as they conceded two goals in four minutes, with Pinnock firing the first one into the near post from inside the area and the Cobblers’ top scorer, Hoskins, then stepped up to the spot to fire home a penalty soon after.

It could have been more before the break as a counter-attack was started by Bowie and he sprinted towards the Town goal, with only Ben Heneghan and Montgomery in his path. He then found Hoskins free with a shot on goal, but it was saved well by Lynch.

We had action at both ends at the start of the second period; captain Josh Vela had to pull off a brilliant block to deny Bowie after a brilliant recovery run and substitute Jayden Stockley thought he’d pulled one back from close range, but Thompson stopped the effort.

Much like the first half, Northampton seemed to drive towards goal multiple times as they pushed to add a third to their tally for the afternoon, but Hoskins and Pinnock both fired off-target, whilst Shaun McWilliams forced a full-stretch diving save from Lynch.

Stockley seemed to be the main target for Fleetwood’s attack in the latter stages of the game as he headed just over from close range and then saw an effort be tipped over and out for a corner not long after, but none of his efforts were able to beat Thompson in the home goal.

The game was over as it entered added time as a brilliant effort from Pinnockl, who already had one in the game, curled into the top left corner, leaving Lynch with no chance of saving it, meaning the score line would end up being 3-0 on the afternoon.

Cobblers XI: Thompson (GK), Sowerby, Guthire (C) (Willis 76’), Sherring, Hoskins, Pinnock, McWilliams, Bowie (Appéré 76’), Leonard, Odimayo, Brough.

Unused subs: Dadge (GK), Monthe, Simpson, Hondermarck, Haynes.

Town XI: Lynch, Montgomery, Wiredu (Dolan 54’), Lawal, Vela (C), Mayor (Tshimanga 54’), Broom, Marriott (Stockley 54’), Heneghan (Johnston 61’), Holgate, Patterson.

Unused subs: McMullan (GK), Hayes, Teale.

Attendance: 5,491 (97 away)