Ivan the man for recharged Cobblers
NORTHAMPTON may have climbed out of the relegation zone for the first time since September but boss Chris Wilder insists now is not the time for congratulations
Hometown boy Ivan Toney, 18, scored two of the Cobblers’ stunning goals – one a diving header and the second an overhead kick from 12 yards.
Sandwiched in between, Ian Morris’ sublime lob-volley saw Northampton get off to a flying start and, going into the final game,Wilder knows that a point against his former side Oxford will guarantee survival.
“We’re confident, whoever we play, that we can go and get a result,” he said.
“I truly believed that we could win (against Dagenham)
“We deserved something from the Portsmouth game but we didn’t get it and the pressure was on.
“We wanted to be out of the bottom two going into the last game of the season and we’ve done that.
“It’s a job well done but there’ll be no patting each other on the back yet, we’ll have a drink next Saturday if we seal the deal.
“Ivan and John (Marquis) set us off on the front foot and Ivan will deserve his headlines because his performance was exceptional.”
Toney sent the 1,200 away fans into raptures in the seventh minute, heading Evan Horwood’s fierce cross past Jordan Seabright having snuck between Scott Doe and Brian Saah.
Unbeaten in their previous five away games, the Cobblers doubled their lead in spectacular fashion just minutes later.
Former Millwall midfielder Chris Hackett’s cleared corner fell to Morris 25 yards out and with his first touch he lobbed the ball over Seabright’s outstreched hand.
With just 12 goals in their last 15 games, it’s no surprise that Dagenham rarely threatened to reduce the deficit. And when Toney scored his second the game looked out of reach for the Daggers.
The second half struggled to live up to the high standard of the first, with Dagenham continuing their streak of poor home performances.
“The performance wasn’t what we were expecting or what we’d planned for,” said Daggers’ first-team coach Darren Currie.
“We knew what we were going to expect, they’re fighting for their lives and we knew they would be up against us, asking questions of our back four.
“We couldn’t do anything about Morris’ cracking volley, but we certainly could have for the other goals.”