Gritty Latics reap reward

LAST-GASP GOAL HERO . . . Lee Erwin fires home at the death

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ELEVEN games are left and an increasingly wide pool of teams are being drawn into the battle to stay up.

Few can be better equipped for the task ahead than the side John Sheridan is inspiring.

Lee Erwin's goal in added time was a sweet strike from outside the box which nestled into the bottom-left corner of Adam Smith's goal.

It stopped the Sixfields side's run of three straight home wins; it brought Athletic to within a point's range of the Cobblers in 17th; and it provided still more evidence that this team is a very, very tough nut to crack.

John-Joe O'Toole's gobbling up of a Keshi Anderson header that squirmed past Connor Ripley - the only thing that beat him all evening, in the 84th minute - would have been a gut-punch too far for some of Athletic's less robust rivals near the foot of Sky Bet League One.

The way a side given the lead by Tope Obadeyi's close-range effort ended the game on the front foot showed they have the right kind of survival instincts. And Athletic were, on balance after a game which featured plenty of attractive football on a pitch that put Wembley to shame, worthy of the three points.

INJURED

Athletic made two changes to the side that made it four unbeaten thanks to a 0-0 draw against Millwall. With Brian Wilson injured, there was one less decision to be made by Sheridan on how to accommodate the back-from-suspension Anthony Gerrard, while in midfield Chris Taylor was given a breather, allowing Ryan Flynn a chance to impress from wide on the left.

O'Toole had the first shot in anger, forcing in-form Ripley to get down and stop his low first-time attempt from 20 yards out in the third minute, before Aiden O'Neill warmed the hands of Smith with a low attempt from a tough angle on the right.

Ryan McLaughlin was next to have a try in the eighth minute, shooting a couple of feet over with his left after drifting infield from near the right touchline.

In a sprightly opening, O'Toole latched onto another square ball from the left, but this time scuffed badly when well-placed after opting to take a touch around Peter Clarke.

And Anderson wasted a great chance after 15 minutes, racing onto a through ball to slide past Clarke, only for the Athletic skipper to just use enough legal force to nudge him and the ball into Ripley's orbit before a shot could be taken.

When the goal came, it was no surprise that the energy of McLaughlin was at its source.

His burst down the middle, with a good advantage played by referee Brett Huxtable, led to a pass to Aaron Amadi-Holloway on the left.

Entering the area, his touch appeared to let him down, but in digging out a left-footed cross which travelled back across goal, it allowed Obadeyi the simple task of slotting home from close range for his first goal for the club.

Sheridan's side, enjoying the pitch, were attacking at pace with McLaughlin and Obadeyi a particular menace down the right.

But Justin Edinburgh's side wasted chances.

The best was manufactured by ex-Athletic right-back Neal Eardley after 24 minutes. His whipped-in cross from the right was a thing of beauty and it was perfectly in the stride of striker Michael Smith to volley. Six yards out, he contrived to place the ball wide of Ripley's left-hand post.

In an end-to-end, open contest, Flynn should have done better when finding space in a crowded box to fire left-footed and well over the top from Obadeyi's pull-back, Ripley had to be down sharply to save from the lively Anderson and Ollie Banks smashed a 30-yarder within a whisker as the ball broke into his path.

Lewin Nyatanga also tested Ripley when spinning to shoot from a corner that wasn't cleared, while O'Toole's charge onto a far-post nod-back by Anderson saw his touch let him down as the ball ran out of play shortly before half-time.

Ripley was to the fore - as so often - two minutes after the interval, throwing out a left arm to stop an Anderson shot that was arrowing in to the top corner.

Straight up the other end, David Buchanan had to make an alert clearance close to the line with Amadi-Holloway lurking, before Athletic's target man spun his marker superbly and lashed in a 20-yard effort that Smith hurriedly pushed out low to his left.

CLEANED OUT

Gerrard almost cleaned out team-mate Paul Green with one committed challenge in his own box, before he nearly beat Ripley after a block on a cross ended with the ball travelling towards his own goal.

After 82 minutes, Clarke made a crucial block before O'Toole shot wide and at the other end, substitute Erwin forced Smith to tip over his own bar a minute before the equaliser arrived.

Athletic dusted themselves off and when Erwin latched onto a loose ball and struck his shot from 18 yards out, it arrowed in before he celebrated among fans behind the goal, picking up a yellow card for his troubles.

Erwin's last goal for Athletic was in the Checkatrade Trophy at Walsall - handy, given Saturday's opponents.

IN A NUTSHELL: Athletic kept going right until the very end.