Sixfields old boy Jacobs hopes Cobblers fans understand as he gets '˜caught up in the emotion' of Wigan winner

Michael Jacobs says he hopes the Cobblers supporters can understand his exuberant celebrations after he scored a spectacular winner against his boyhood club on Tuesday night.
Wigan's Michael Jacobs slides on his knees to celebrate his spectacular goal against the Cobblers on Tuesday night (Pictures: Sharon Lucey)Wigan's Michael Jacobs slides on his knees to celebrate his spectacular goal against the Cobblers on Tuesday night (Pictures: Sharon Lucey)
Wigan's Michael Jacobs slides on his knees to celebrate his spectacular goal against the Cobblers on Tuesday night (Pictures: Sharon Lucey)

The Sixfields academy product scored the only goal of the game at the DW Stadium, letting fly with a 30-yard strike that flew past Matt Ingram to nestle in the corner of the net and claim the three points for the home side.

It was a great strike, and Jacobs celebrated accordingly despite the effort being against the club where he started his career, and made his Football League debut as a 17-year-old under Ian Sampson in 2010.

He went on to make 100 appearances for the club over two exceptional seasons, scoring 15 goals in the process and two player of the year awards, and that won him a big-money move to Derby County.

Jacobs, who is still just 25, has since went on to play for Wolves, Blackpool and now Wigan, where he is one of the first names on Paul Cook’s teamsheet.

Cobblers fans will have been all too aware of Jacobs’ expertise at letting fly from long distance, and unfortunately for them, they were on the end of one of his specials on Tuesday night.

And the player himself said he simply got ‘caught up in the emotion’ of the moment.

“I wasn’t having the best of games to be honest, and was getting a little bit frustrated,” said Jacobs, who was born in Kettering and grew up in Rothwell.

“Sometimes that gets the better of you, and when you score a goal like that the emotions take over.

“The Northampton fans know how much I love their club and stuff, but for me it is all about winning matches and scoring goals, and when it hit the back of the net I wanted to celebrate.

“It is no disrespect to the Northampton fans, but I was just caught up in the emotion and the typical celebration came out.”

So where did the strike rank among the list of ‘Crackers’ crackers’ for the Latics?

“I would say that is one the best goals I have scored for the club, I got a great strike on it and it just sat up nicely,” he said.

“I had a little bit of space, but I was getting shut down, and we didn’t create to much in the whole game to be honest and hadn’t tested their keeper, so I thought I would give it a bang.

“A lot of the time it goes here, there and everywhere, but it flew into the corner which is nice.”

The win for Wigan saw them move up to second in the Sky bet League One table, while the Cobblers stayed in 17th, but Jacobs was impressed with how his former club performed.

“Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink sets his teams up to be organised, they have got a gameplan and Northampton came to us and did that,” Jacobs told wiganathletic.com.

“They made it hard for us, they set up to stop us doing what we are good at, and it made it a bit of a nitty-gritty game.”