Cobblers put Latics to the sword

Coke: On target

A poor first period only came to life midway through the half when veteran keeper Mark Crossley made two superb saves in a minute, firstly to deny Adebayo Akinfenwa and from the ensuing corner he did well to keep out a header from Poul Hubertz.

Earlier Hubertz had headed over while Akinfenwa had seen his header cleared off the line by Neal Eardley.

Coke went close just before the break after being put clear by Akinfenwa but shot wide under pressure.

Coke made amends six minutes after the restart when his deflected shot beat Crossley after Oldham had failed to deal with a Kenny Jackman corner. Gilligan increased Northampton's lead in the 63rd minute when he raced clear - Crossley saved his initial effort but he volleyed home the rebound to put the Cobblers firmly in control.

Jackman had a late effort cleared off the line by Stefan Stam while Oldham's only real effort saw Kelvin Lomax foiled by Mark Bunn.