MARC Richards continued a fondness for scoring against Accrington Stanley with the only goal of the game at Sixfields.

The Northampton Town striker netted for a fourth successive game against the Reds to consign them to a 1-0 defeat, despite a good performance.

The Reds were a whisker away from taking the lead inside 20 seconds when Sean McConville produced a speculative effort from outside the box that dipped late, beat goalkeeper Adam Smith but clipped the top of the bar and went behind.

The home team responded with similar menace. David Buchanan crossed from the left for Nicky Adams who saw his strike deflected behind before the normally prolific Richards fired a Brendan Moloney cross wide.

Stanley full back Brad Halliday then fizzed one wide before the away dugout rose to their feet in protest when Billy Kee stole the ball just outside the box and seemed to be wrestled to the ground by Ryan Cresswell.

Referee Nicholas Kinsley raced to the scene but abruptly stopped, allowing play to continue instead.

The third placed Cobblers couldn’t get into their stride, with the visitors pressing and winning second balls to limit the home side’s time on the ball.

Such pressure from Kee saw goalkeeper Adam Smith slice a clearance to Josh Windass only for him to fire wide, before a last ditch block from Moloney thwarted McConville inside the area.

Two early Northampton changes helped them win the early second half impetus, although Smith was forced to save from McConville before the two home replacements were close to combining when Ricky Holmes crossed just beyond Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

As the hour mark arrived, so did Stanley’s best chance and it fell to Windass.

The club’s top scorer saw the ball drop favourably to him down the left. His initial shot was blocked by a defender but came back to him and his follow up was saved superbly by Smith and flew behind for a corner.

As so often happens, the Reds then fell behind.

Richards had scored four times against Stanley in the last three meetings between the teams and added to that tally when he headed a left wing cross into the ground and the ball bounced up and over Jason Mooney and into the far left corner of the net.

As John Coleman’s team looked to get level their hosts looked to catch them on the break and extend their lead, which was almost the case when Mooney punched a high ball straight to Richards but Matty Pearson flung himself at the ball to deny a second goal.

At the other end, it was only a deflection that stopped McConville from levelling before Tom Davies headed over from a corner, Kee saw a shot saved from a tight angle and Windass blasted over.

There was more to come, with McConville playing in Matt Crooks inside the area, the midfielder galloping onto the ball and forcing Smith to surge off his line and turn the ball behind.

McConville had done everything bar score, and emphasised the point when he cut in from the left, beat a man and shot narrowly wide of the right post.

Substitute Terry Gornell headed into the side netting as the Reds pushed for a late leveller but they were unable to prevent an empty handed trip home.