And second-year scholar Michael Jacobs staked a huge claim for a role in the matchday 18 for the opening day clash with Macclesfield in just over a fortnight.

Town came through a potentially-tough pre-season game 2-0 winners, with Steve Guinan and Harris on the scoresheet.

It was a game the visitors won comfortably, due mainly to the fact that Stamford were reduced to 10 men for an hour of the contest.

John Curtis lined up at right-back – and put in a very composed display there – with Paul Rodgers playing alongside Dean Beckwith in the heart of the back four.

The result was Rodgers' best performance of the pre-season, and one which gives manager Stuart Gray another option going into the new season.

The rest of the side had a real first-team flavour about it, with one notable exception. Jacobs slotted in at central midfield and produced a display of class and composure well beyond his 17 years.

He was involved in the first major incident of the game, too, when Stamford right-winger Dan Cotton hit him hard with a two-footed challenge which saw the home team's number seven sent off.

There is a school of thought that in a friendly the preferred option in such a situation is to suggest the offending player is substituted.

But this was a bad challenge, and friendly match or not, the red card was entirely the right decision.

The effect was to completely take the edge off the game, and Stamford were never going to get back in it once their professional opponents had taken the lead five minutes after the dismissal.

Jacobs, who to his enormous credit showed for the ball at every opportunity after the tackle which would have seen a less brave player disappear, flighted in a good ball from the right-hand side which Guinan powered past Chris Wright in the Stamford goal.

It was a double blow which Stamford, for all their underdog spirit, were always going to struggle from, and so it proved, though they had their moments.

Town, as the situation dictated, stepped it up a notch and completed the first half with blocked shots from Ryan Gilligan and Billy McKay.

Gilligan produced a blockbuster of a shot which skimmed wide moments after the restart, though the main feature of the second 45 minutes was some positional experimentation by Gray.

Curtis put in a shift in midfield, Rodgers was switched to right-back and Liam Davis, who was on the wrong end of some fierce challenges all game, had a run on the right wing.

All three moves can be chalked up as successes, but the opposition was completely demoralised then and these are hollow victories.

It got worse for Stamford with 10 minutes to go, too. Harris never gave up on a ball over the top and clipped on over the advancing Wright.

n Cobblers: Dunn, Curtis, Rodgers, Beckwith, Davis, Mulligan (Harris 75), Jacobs (Dyer 82), Gilligan (Jackman 64), Davis, McKay (Benjamin 67), Guinan (Hinton 64). Sub not used: Guttridge.