IT'S 25-UP FOR SIXFIELDS!: Looking back on 25 key games from the first 25 years...

It was October 15, 1994 when Town played their first match at what was then the Borough Council-owned community Sixfields Stadium.The first game saw John Barnwell's Cobblers team draw 1-1 with Barnet in the fourth tier of the English football.The move to the new ground had been delayed a few months, with Town supposed to play at Sixfields from the start of the season, but as it was they had to wait a couple of months.It was worth that wait though, with Town finally quitting their Abington Avenue home - which they had shared with Northamptonshire County Cricket Club since 1897 - following a 1-0 defeat to Mansfield Town on October 11.Young striker Martin Aldridge scored the Cobblers' first goal at the new ground, a superb one it was too, and it was followed by an even more spectacular somersault celebration.The sell-out crowd that day would have felt strange in their new surroundings, having spent so long watching their team from the very few seats and shallow terraces of the dilapidated, but much loved, County Ground.Sixfields, which back then was right on the outskirts of town, was new, it was shiny, it was all-seater, and the question was: How long would it take to feel like home?Well, the answer to that question was, 'not very long'.The Cobblers players and supporters quickly took to their new surroundings, and now, 25 years later, it is quite hard to imagine the team being based anywhere else.Indeed, there are now generations of Cobblers supporters who know no other home, and I would think the majority of those who did use to go to the County Ground, will agree that the move has, on the whole, been a good one for the club.To mark the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the move to Upton, I have picked out 25 key matches played at the stadium over the years, from that opening day, to the current season.Many thanks must go to photographer Pete Norton, who has had the fortune - or is that misfortune? - of sitting on the sidelines and recording the action for virtually every game played at Sixfields in that time, and he has managed to dig out a snap from all of my 25 choices.There are obviously a lot of matches to choose from, so your own particular highlight or favourite may not be in here, and if that is the case then please contact me on Twitter by searching fo @TheRealCase or email me at [email protected] and let me know what your key or favourite game is, and why.For me, the match where everything came together on and off the pitch was the play-off semi-final second-leg against Bristol Rovers back in 1998.Trailing 3-1 from the first-leg at the Memorial Ground, Ian Atkins' Cobblers team were backed by a feverish crowd and destroyed the Gas in a pulsating match, winning 3-0 to book a place in a second successive Wembley final.I don't think the atmosphere on that night has ever been bettered, and I still don't think Rovers boss on the night, Ian Holloway, has fully recovered!!One thing's for sure, in the past 25 years there have been highs, there have also been plenty of lows (which I have tried to avoid here!), but Sixfields is now the Cobblers' home, sweet home.And hopefully it will be for many, many years to come.