U21s report: Northampton Town 1-3 Arsenal

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WHAT HAPPENED

We reached the knockout stages of the Papa Johns Trophy after an impressive 3-1 win over Northampton Town on Tuesday night.

Mehmet Ali's young charges found themselves a goal down after just eight minutes at Sixfields Stadium, as the League Two side raced into an early lead courtesy of Joshua Tomlinson's unmarked header from an in-swinging corner.

We responded well to the early setback and began to find our rhythm midway through the half, Amario Cozier-Duberry taking the game to the hosts with a surging run into the box before testing Jonny Maxted from a tight angle.

Northampton almost doubled their advantage shortly after the restart, a loose touch from Taylor Foran presented Liam Cross with a one-on-one, but Karl Hein produced a stunning fingertip save to turn the ball past the post.

Charles Sagoe Jr forced Maxted into a smart save at his near post, but the Northampton stopper could do nothing about Zach Awe's equaliser from the resulting corner, our centre-back turning the ball home at the far post after Matt Smith's delivery.

We turned up the heat on our hosts and took the lead with 15 minutes left on the clock, Cozier-Duberry getting the goal that his performance deserved with a curling strike into the top corner after some good play from Nathan Butler-Oyedeji in the buildup.

We made sure of the win and our progression through to the next round of the Papa Johns Trophy deep into stoppage time, Butler-Oyedeji combining well with substitute Joel Ideho to round off a blistering counter attack with a looping effort beyond Maxted.