Cobblers FanStand: Defeat not an option
Cobblers V Dagenham and Redbridge. Adebayo Akinfenwa and Arron Davies celebrating Davies' goal.
Lee Wade: So the Cobblers were frozen out on Saturday denying us a chance to embark on a winning run that would take us to safety.
It now means we go into the massive game at Dagenham under pressure and two points adrift at the bottom. Defeat is not an option in this one.
That could be a defeat too far. Saturday was the ideal time to be facing Macclesfield as they were on a shocking run of form and we were feeling confident after the recent impressive signings.
This seems to be symptomatic of our recent luck.
The one positive about the postponement was it cut the risk of another ruined Saturday night, although Plymouth’s late comeback against Southend wasn’t ideal preparation for stress free evening. At least we had the snow to keep us occupied.
So, weather permitting we will travel to Dagenham in good numbers if not good heart, willing the team on to victory or at least a draw.
Would I take a draw now? Yes I think I would. After that we have three home games on the trot.
Most clubs would look forward to that and see it as a great chance to get plenty of points on the board, however with our home form that could easily be a tortuous period.
Having said that I will stick my neck out and predict at least seven points from those three games, so if we can avoid defeat on Saturday it won’t be long before we climb out of the drop zone with the recent signing of Clarke Carlisle perhaps being the catalyst for an upturn in form. Crikey, that’s positive. Up the Cobblers!
James Averill
Looking at the npower League Two table right now on the BBC football website, firstly I’m struck at just how horrible the new website design is.
They must have spent a fair bit of money re-branding it and it’s ended up worse than it was before. A bit like our squad under Gary Johnson really.
Nevertheless, looking at the table, the huge importance of Saturday’s game is painfully apparent.
I really don’t want to use clichés but if you can’t apply the terms ‘six-pointer’ and ‘must-win game’ to this fixture then I don’t know when you can.
The simple fact is this: if Dagenham win they will go six points clear of us. Not irretrievable I know, but when your team has only won five games in 28, getting two wins just to pull level is a frightening prospect.
It’s a shame that the Macclesfield game was called off. I don’t know if anyone else was the same, but I just had this feeling that we were going to grab three points.
They were on a dreadful run and had several key players missing through injury. I really fancied it, but the elements beat us. Now we’ll most likely play them when they’re in a fine run of form.
The plus side of the postponement is that the squad will have had plenty of time to bed in the new signing and any tactical changes that may have been made, and they should be fresh and raring to go in easily the biggest match of the season so far.
I have no doubts that they will be cheered on by a huge away following.
Cobblers Travel and NTFC have clubbed together to subsidise some of the coach prices, while I know many will be travelling down by train, eager to sample a day and a night out in London.
However you get there, if it’s by car, bus or train, the important thing is to be there if you can and cheer the lads on. This has become a very big game, and it is up to us to help the lads as much as we can.
Sean O’Donovan
The anticipation about the ‘new Cobblers’ lasted all the time from transfer deadline day to the moment the referee judged the Sixfields pitch unplayable.
With the return of Saido Berahino to West Brom, we will now never see the line-up that should have played against Macclesfield. Another world-beating team that never was.
Berahino was certainly a bright spark in a dull season, and we will watch his brilliant career with much interest.
A loss for us and also a loss for any defence he comes up against in the future. Hope it isn’t us.
He is clearly a young man in a hurry, but it was to his credit that he took time to offer his appreciation to us all on Twitter: “I would like to thank everyone from Northampton for the support they’ve showed me throughout my loan spell, I wish the club best of luck.”
One of the key problems with loan players is that as soon as they start to perform well, their parent club understandably want to move them onto a higher ranked team in order to further progress their development.
However, as we have seen this season, there is an even greater risk with players signed on contracts. When they don’t perform, we can’t play them and no-one else wants to take them off our hands.
Now for one of the weekends that Cobblers supporters traditionally look forward to. A Saturday match in London.
It is also a weekend that I don’t have to struggle through all the Spurs or Arsenal supporters going the opposite way as I head towards Euston. Instead I can jump on a couple of buses and wait to welcome my friends from the north.
I have enjoyed my London “home” games this season. We have a 100 per cent record, beating both Wimbledon and Barnet. Now for Dagenham.
West Ham are playing at Peterborough the same day, and I have briefed my Hammers- supporting friend about all the best songs to sing at them. In turn he tells me that Dagenham is reputedly the home of black cab drivers, and the locals like nothing better than a chorus of “let’s all do the knowledge”.
Another London win for the Cobblers. Then it is all around to mine for a party. We will be dancing in the streets of Edmonton on Saturday night!
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Weather for Northampton
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
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knowsley roader
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 12:12 PMDon't know whether to look at the Cobblers current plight with a half glass empty or half full mentality. As I see it at the moment the options are that we either could pick up some momentum with a host of back to back wins by playing two three games a week or alternatively you could take the view that time is running out and that there has been so much change at Sixfields of late on the personnel front that it is unrealistic to expect results to change the way the supporters want it to.One final comment - how many more times will positive communication from Sixfields about the state of the plating surface come back to haunt us.It has just happened again with the Macclesfield game and happened in exactly the same way that the Burton home game was cancelled last seasn. Tarpaulins will never overcome hard overnight severe frost problems which were all predicted so why paint a false picture that a game is likely to go ahead.
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