DESPITE volunteers spending the best part of two days clearing the snow from the pitch and overnight weather conditions being kind Accrington Stanley’s defence remained frozen.

The Reds suffered a fourth successive League Two defeat as they were walloped 5-1 by 10-man Northampton Town with each of the goals conceded a contender for how not to protect your goal.

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That talismanic centre back Tom Aldred was unavailable having left for Blackpool was irrelevant, the 24-year-old having not played in the midweek defeat to Bury, as the 11 players selected by John Coleman fell behind as early as the fifth minute.

Centre half Seamus Conneely’s clearing header from a goal kick dropped straight to new Cobblers signing Ricky Holmes on the left and he shot beyond Matt Macey from a tight angle off the underside of the crossbar.

The goal set the tone for a first half that saw Stanley penned back for large spells with Conneely blocking from John-Joe O’Toole and clearing Kal Naismith’s backpass off the line as well as Macey being forced to race out to tackle Marc Richards.

The home team’s chances were limited and they were soon 2-0 down when Adam Buxton brought down Holmes inside the box and Richards netted the penalty despite Macey having seemingly done enough to keep it out.

Just when it seemed it would be a long afternoon Coleman’s men were handed a lifeline. Sean Maguire beat the offside trap and broke through on goal but as he went to pull the trigger was clipped by defender Ryan Cresswell. For the second time ref David Webb pointed to the spot, this time sending off Cresswell.

Duke saved Luke Joyce’s spot kick but Piero Mingoia followed up to ram in the rebound and make the half time score 2-1.

Coleman introduced James Gray and Anthony Barry at the break and his team suddenly kicked into gear. Maguire blasted over from Gray’s layoff before Barry saw a shot deflected for a corner and Lee Collins cleared a Gray header off the line as Stanley turned the screw.

Duke then had to make a great save when Mingoia saw a shot deflected goalwards but just when it seemed there would only be one winner Stanley’s defending took a turn for the kamikaze.

With 66 minutes on the clock their corner suddenly turned into a Northampton goal.

Buxton gave the ball away on half way and Jason Taylor and Lawson D’Ath broke. With Macey in no man’s land D’Ath clipped the ball beyond him, though he looked suspiciously offside, to make it 3-1.

Incredibly it got worse. Just a minute later Macey and Rob Atkinson dithered inside their own area and allowed D’Ath to steal the ball, squaring for an unmarked Richards to score.

Gray and fellow sub Josh Windass had chances to reduce the deficit but hopes of a comeback were slim and then gone when another Stanley attack broke down, the Cobblers countered and Holmes found D’Ath, and he slotted the ball past the hapless Macey to make it 5-1 as Stanley’s shellshocked players trudged off for a frosty reception in the dressing room soundly beaten.