BARTON: THIS IS MY BIGGEST EVER TEST
JOEY Barton believes he’s experiencing his most “testing period” in football after Bristol Rovers’ stalemate at relegation-rivals Northampton.
Luke Leahy’s close-range goal after 19 minutes set Rovers on their way to three points and a victory that would have taken them out of the bottom four.
But Jack Baldwin dragged down Alex Jones late on in the box and Sam Hoskins made no mistake from 12 yards to leave the spoils shared and keep Rovers firmly in the mire. “It’s two points lost,” lamented Barton. “It was a scrappy affair, but you’ve just got to manage the conditions and you’ve got to play in the right part of the pitch.
“There wasn’t going to be much football played and it was going to be cagey because of the state of play for both teams but we started well, got ourselves in the ascendancy and took the lead.
“We didn’t do enough in the back end of the second half, so we challenged the players at half-time to go out and get the second goal because at some point the centre-forwards have to start scoring.
“Scoring a second goal would have taken the pressure off the defensive unit and it would stop those mad moments that we are suffering with at the moment.
“This is the most testing period I’ve had in football – I don’t remember seeing so many errors in such a short space of time. I don’t intend to see it for much longer because it’s got to stop. They’re good lads, but if you keep giving goals away, you give yourself a mountain to climb.”
Rovers started well and were denied the opening goal by Michael Harriman’s last-ditch tackle on Jonah Ayunga.
Jonathan Mitchell kept out Baldwin’s header from the following corner, but there was no denying Leahy at the next set-piece as he met Zain Westbrooke’s cross and blasted in at the second time of asking.
The hosts improved and went close to levelling, Anssi Jaakkola denying Fraser Horsfall, but Rovers could have been further ahead at the break after Luke McCormick cleared the bar.
Chances were at a premium in the second half, but Northampton had one glaring chance to level when Danny Rose completely missed his kick ten yards out.
But the home side did salvage a point when Hoskins scored from the spot.
Northampton are still 19th, but have played more games than most of the teams below them. “Before the game, I felt we had the quality to beat them,” said Cobblers boss Jon Brady. “But it was a scrappy affair and it was another fight with a team in and around us.
“It’s only the second time this season that the team has come back from 1-0 down and come away with a result, so we’ve got to praise that character.
“Our subs made a real impact, which was really good, and the referee will be disappointed when he watches it back because we should have had another penalty – AJ gets dragged down.”