Cobblers 'owe Sutton one' after disappointment of reverse fixture

Taking three points off a promotion rival is not the only motivation for Jon Brady’s Cobblers when they take on Sutton United this weekend.

There’s also the small matter of setting the record straight after what happened when these two teams last met.

Sutton departed Sixfields in October with three easily-won points following a dominant performance against an out-of-sorts Cobblers in the first ever competitive meeting between the two clubs.

Northampton, without reliable defender Jon Guthrie on the day, delivered what remains their worst performance of the season, but Saturday offers an opportunity to make amends.

“I think we owe Sutton one from the game at our place earlier in the season because we weren’t at it that day,” admitted Fraser Horsfall.

“We had a couple of players missing for that game, which was no excuse, but we’re keen to get out there on Saturday and get a result.

“We want to show them what we can do. You’re going to have bad days and bad performances during any season but so far we’ve made sure that it hasn’t happened again.

“We do owe them one and the lads have looked sharp in training this week and we feel good after Forest Green so hopefully we can do the business on Saturday. “

Mitch Pinnock’s stoppage-time leveller against Rovers has put a spring in Town’s step this week as they prepare to take on another in-form, promotion-chasing team.

Horsfall added: “I think that was our best performance since we came back from COVID and you could see that from the way we pressed throughout the whole game.

“In terms of the energy, I thought the lads were unbelievable. It was a tense game but we were back to like how we played before COVID and hopefully we can take that confidence into the weekend.

“It’s very close now between the top eight or nine and if you can get a little run together, you can really shoot up the table.

“I know everyone says it but we just have to look at it game by game.”

Having lost the momentum built up before being hit by COVID, Pinnock’s late heroics to take a point off the league leaders might just get the Cobblers back on track.

“It was massive for us and we felt it was a bit of justice because of what happened with their goal,” Horsfall continued.

“Throughout the game I thought we were the better team and we took the game to Forest Green and we deserved at least a point.

“Everyone was full of emotion after scoring in the last second and it was a great result for us and now I think we can carry on and pick up more good results.”

In normal circumstances, a late equaliser to earn a point midway through the season would not be reason for such euphoric celebrations.

But that spontaneity is one of the beauties of football.

“When it goes in, you’re not thinking properly,” said Horsfall.

“You know it’s only an equaliser but I think it was just the fact it felt like justice and it came in literally the last few seconds and it was also against the league leaders.

“We just put so much effort and energy into the game and you could feel it was tense.

“Mitch has taken his top off and we’re all going mad and I don’t think you can really explain it. It’s just one of those things in football where the emotion gets the better of you.

“People might say it’s only a point but it could be a big, big point for us come the end of the season.”