Northampton Town 2 - 0 Leyton Orient
Coca-Cola League One

ORIENT'S search for consistency goes on after they fell to a 2-0 defeat at Northampton on Friday night.

The O's have now gone four months wihout recording back-to-back victories and they will be bitterly disappointed with their limp performance at Sixfields.

Giles Coke took advantage of a parting in the O's defence to give the Cobblers an early lead, and the points were confirmed late on by Poul Hubertz's penalty.

Orient created the game's first chance with just four minutes on the clock.  Andy Barcham's searing pace was in evidence as he burst onto a pass from Sam Oji before crossing low into the box, where Adam Boyd sent his effort over the bar from ten yards.

Northampton responded with a shot from distance by Ryan Gilligan that Stuart Nelson watched wide of his goal.

Both sides were looking for an early breakthrough and Boyd drilled another long range shot just wide of the near post after Adam Chambers flicked the ball to him in the 11th minute.

But it was Northampton who were to strike the first blow, midfielder Coke making an excellent run beyond his frontmen to collect Hubertz's flick and finish past an exposed Nelson.

Coke's strike settled the game down after a frantic opening and the Cobblers began to take a grip on proceedings.

With 29 minutes on the clock, they managed to find a route through the heart of the O's backline again, but Danny Jackman could not take advantage of Ryan Gilligan's clever dummy, slicing his effort wide.

The O's came within a whisker of an equaliser five minutes before the break, though, when Oji skipped past his man down the right and delivered a cross for Paul Terry, whose deflected volley required an excellent low stop from Mark Bunn.

Orient tried to apply the pressure at the start of the second period, but they were finding it difficult to make serious headway against a stubborn Cobblers backline.

The home side were doing a fine job of squeezing the life from Orient's efforts and Hubertz forced a save from Nelson with a 67th minute header.

And with 14 minutes left to play, they were given the chance to make the points safe when the far side linesman flagged for a spot kick after Jason Crowe went down under a challenge from Charlie Daniels.

Hubertz made no mistake from 12 yards, drilling the penalty low to the right to ensure the O's would have a miserable journey home.

Northampton: Bunn; Crowe, Little, Hughes, Johnson, Jones; Coke (Holt 89), Burnell, Jackman; Gilligan (Henderson 80), Hubertz
Subs: Akinfenwa, Dunn (GK), Hayes

Goals: Coke (14), Hubertz (pen 77)

Booked: Gilligan, Henderson, Bunn

Leyton Orient: Nelson; Oji (Purches 53), Mkandawire, Saah, Daniels; Thornton (Melligan 43), Chambers, Terry, Demetriou (Corden 64); Barcham, Boyd
Subs: Morris (GK), Echanomi

Booked: Saah, Chambers, Melligan

Referee: Jarnail Singh (Middlesex)

Attendance: 5,405 (903 away)