Paul Lewis scored the only goal of the game as promotion hopefuls Northampton returned to winning ways with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Salford.

Lewis’ close-range finish came on just 12 minutes and was one of few chances in a low-key contest as Northampton kept pace in the battle for automatic promotion.

Salford’s Matt Smith headed straight at keeper Liam Roberts early on but the visitors found themselves behind when Lewis smashed in after Jon Guthrie’s initial effort from a Sam Hoskins corner was cleared off the line.

Mitch Pinnock was a threat for Northampton and his long-range effort had to be well-saved by Tom King before the same man curled a free-kick narrowly wide.

Debutant Idris Kanu went close early in the second half before Smith had Salford’s best chance of the game from a free-kick, but again he was thwarted by Roberts.

Northampton were comfortable in seeing out victory and could even have won by a bigger margin with Ali Koiki forcing King into a good save in stoppage time.