Cardiff toast promotion by hammering Northampton in final home match

Cardiff boss Brian Barry-Murphy said he wanted a party atmosphere in his side’s final home game after clinching automatic promotion and his team responded with a 5-1 win over already-relegated Northampton.

The revelry began as early as the 10th minute when Ollie Tanner volleyed home the first of his brace to get the party started and Joel Colwill added a second nine minutes later after his brother, Rubin, set up his goal on a plate.

It was one-way traffic throughout the opening 45 minutes with the Cobblers failing to get a shot off to test out debutant Harry Tyrer in the home goal. It was 3-0 by the break with a little help from Northampton’s Wales U21 forward Jack Vale.

He attempted a back pass to his under-siege goalkeeper Lee Burge from 25 yards out and handed home striker Callum Robinson the simplest of tasks to turn and stroke the ball home.

Tanner smashed the ball into the roof of the net for the fourth nine minutes into the second half after Burge had pushed a Chris Willock cross into his path. Yousef Salech added a fifth in the 85th minute.

To their credit, Northampton, who slumped to a 12th defeat in a 14-match winless league run, were far more competitive in the second half and Jack Evans grabbed a consolation goal in the 68th minute.