Leyton Orient fell to a promotion chasing Northampton team in E10, after an exciting game saw the Cobblers come away with all three points.
A poor first half from the O’s saw Northampton head in 4-1 up, before substitute Jordan Brown inspired hopes of a comeback with an early first half goal.
It wasn’t to be for the O’s though, and a Shad Ogie red card on 84 minutes put to bed any late heroics.
Richie Wellens made one change, enforced, as a suspended Hector Kyprianou was replaced by Ethan Coleman in front of the back four.
Northampton made it three games unchanged coming into the game, Sam Hoskins, who scored the decided last time around, featuring once again.
Orient had the first clear cut opportunity of the game, after some really intricate play saw Theo Archibald release Smyth on the edge of the box.
Smyth composed himself, before firing goalwards, forcing Roberts into an uncomfortable save, before the Cobblers cleared their lines.
It was Orient who kept the pressure on, Archibald again trying to turn provider, chasing down Sotiriou’s ball over the top of the defence, and looking for Drinan.
His cross found Drinan inside the six-yard box, who tried to delicately glance it beyond Roberts, who was down low to make a great reaction save.
Northampton found their way into the game, and Joshua Eppiah was released in the box.
Lawrence Vigouroux read it immaculately, however, and as Eppiah was about to pull the trigger, it was swept off of his feet an away.
Despite some early heroics, the O’s soon found themselves behind, after a brilliantly worked free-kick for the visitors.
The ball was laid off to Matthew Pinnock, who drove inside onto his left foot and unleashed a rocket destined for the top corner, which Vigouroux couldn’t get to on this occasion.
The travelling Northampton fans were in good voice a a result, and soon had even more reason to sing.
An inswinging corner into the box was difficult for the O’s to deal with, and after the first attempted clearance was blocked, John Guthrie was there to pounce on the loose ball and fire it home.
The O’s looked a little shellshocked, but carved out a quick opportunity to try and reduce the deficit, with Aaron Drinan being played through the middle – but his effort was stopped by Roberts, and then cleared by the following defenders.
Soon after, it became a mountain to climb for the O’s, as Eppiah made it three to the good for the visitors.
A long ball over the top caught the Orient defence off-guard, and Eppiah, after taking it past Vigouroux, had all the time in the world to roll it into an empty net.
However, with half-time approaching, the O’s were able to claw one back, as Paul Smyth worked the ball brilliantly on the left hand side and picked out Archibald.
Archibald did well to compose himself in the middle, and pick his spot, to make the score 1-3.
However, with half-time looking like it would come shortly after, there was another twist in the tale, as Eppiah found the net once again.
Picked out at the back post, it was a calm side foot finish back across goal, restoring the three goal lead ahead of the interval.
Half-time: Leyton Orient 1-4 Northampton Town
A change followed at the break, with Ethan Coleman’s afternoon ending, and Jordan Brown entering the fray.
And the young midfielder made an instant impact, scoring his first goal for the club to bring the game back to a two goal deficit.
The referee to his credit played a brilliant advantage as Smyth was fouled off of the ball, which allowed Brown to stride forward and take a shot at goal, taking a slight deflection as it was guided past Roberts.
A double change came quickly after, as Alex Mitchell and Harry Smith replaced Otis Khan and Ruel Sotiriou, with Orient shifting into a back three.
Orient continued the positive start, and almost had one more as a cross into the box for Smith was controlled well, and eventually back into the path of Smyth.
Smyth had to quickly fire off a snapshot, which beat the keeper, but was cleared off of the line by the covering Cobblers defender.
Whilst Northampton remained resolute, the O’s continued to carve out good chances; Drinan with a fantastic first time ball to Harry Smith, who connected beautifully with a header that went just past the post.
A big shout came for an Orient penalty after Jordan Brown’s touch back into the box seemed to be handled by a black shirt – but the referee wasn’t interested.
The O’s pushed for more, but soon the momentum came crashing to a halt, with Shad Ogie receiving a straight red card.
It came for his retaliation on a late tackle from Danny Rose, with Ogie incensed by the dangerous attempt.
Losing his cool, a clash of heads followed, and Ogie was sent down the tunnel.
The hosts saw out the remainder of the game, and with it, saw their automatic promotion hopes improve.
Orient will now look to respond next week, with a visit to the People’s Pension Stadium to take on Crawley Town.
Orient: Vigouroux, Khan (Alex Mitchell 52′), Beckles, Wood, Ogie, Coleman (Brown 45′), Pratley, Smyth, Sotiriou (Smith 51′), Drinan, Archibald
Subs: Sweeney, Smith, Nkrumah, Young, Alex Mitchell, Brown, Sargeant
Northampton: Roberts, Ali Koiki, Guthrie, McGowan, Horsfall, Sowerby, Felix-Eppiah, Hoskins, McWilliams, Pinnock, Appéré
Subs: Maxted, Pollock, Rose, Kanu, Dyche, Zimba, Mills
