As a football supporter there are few greater pleasures than a satisfying away day, and fewer still than triumph in spite of adversity.

Thirteen hundreds Reds left Northampton grinning ear to ear this evening; chanting spilled out onto the streets, cars beeped triumphantly in the car park grid lock, and for once we can all be proud of our side.

It was a scrappy game, inhibited by appalling winds and later an impromptu snow blizzard. Yet coming forward we often looked as astute as we have at any point this season.

Craving

Ormerod’s early goal came after a rather dour start, and it resulted from the kind of simple football that fans have craved all season.

Thornhill and Bennett combined to play a tidy ball for Cohen, he reached the byline and played the ball into the box, poacher Ormerod finished.

It isn’t a science, this game.

Not soon afterwards the game was turned on its head by a rash but predictable red card.

Perch tackled Hubertz and Premier League referee Rob Styles, charged by the usual unwarranted ego and sadistic obsession with two-footed challenges, could not wait to dismiss him.

Seconds later Bennett was smashed by a tackle of equal consequence and greater malice, to which Styles mustered only a yellow.

I feared for our side for the remainder of the half. We camped out in our own penalty area, inviting pressure and relying on wind-swept balls to Tyson.

The equaliser seemed inevitable, and as balls continued to whistle across our penalty area I was braced to bury my head in my hands in response to a second. But it never came.

Menace

In the second half our boys threw themselves into tackles, chased lost causes, put their bodies on the line and attacked with menace. It was a pleasure, it really was.

When I saw the net bulging from Tyson’s penalty I remember thinking that the feeling was good enough to make the thousands of wasted miles this season entirely worthwhile.

It probably wasn’t that good, but hey, these are the moments we live for.

Grabbing automatic promotion is not something I dare even to consider. I still don’t think that we have the bottle to do it, or succeed in the play-offs. And I am even more pessimistic about the capability of our manager in these situations.

But for one night I’m choosing not to think about it. I’m going to enjoy this one.

Ratings:

Smith – 5 – the conditions did not help at all, but I don’t think he had the best of games. The stand out moment was a ball whistling inches in front of his face late in the second half. He saved the poor effort and the flag was up for offside anyway, but for goodness sake can someone teach this man to get off his line?

Chambers – 7 – very solid, worked hard and ultimately got the job done.

Perch – / - harshly red carded, but I wasn’t comfortable with him playing at centre half anyway.

Morgan – 8.5 – inexplicably immovable when bringing the ball out, and imperiously crunching in the tackle. Wes has is flaws, but I was happy to have him on our side in these circumstances.

Wilson – 7.5 – very good second half, and it had to be. One flying tackle that seemed to span 10 yards sticks in my memory.

Bennett – 7.5 – if ever there was a need for a man who would break his neck to win a throw in…

Clingan – 8.5 – his set pieces were poor but I can’t fault anything else he did. Ran until his face was scarlet and sweat poured from every gland, and he was composed enough to pick Tyson out superbly on a number of occasions.

Thornhill – 6 – top marks for effort and for getting into the advanced positions, but (particularly before the red card, strangely enough) he had a tendency to be everywhere but nowhere.

Cohen – 8 – his work rate is always excellent but today it was nothing less than commendable. Good assist.

Ormerod – 8 – we needed his work rate tonight. I shudder to think what would have happened if Grolt was lumbering around up there instead.

Tyson – 9.5 – quite simply, the match winner. Literally everything we created was through opportunist balls aiming to cash in on his pace. Usually that’s frustrating, tonight it was all we could manage and he must have covered 20,000 metres.

Subs:

Agogo – 5 – Tyson covered 20,000 metres, Junior covered 20 – and 10 were walking off at the end. We were warned that he doesn’t like the cold.

Commons – 7 – useful composure in possession, though nearly gave it away in a dangerous area at one point.

McGugan - / - nothing really to note.

Referee – 3 – probably not a red card, probably not a penalty, probably not a Premier League referee for much longer if this is what he’s capable of.

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