James Heneghan's Northampton Town v Stevenage preview

Date/time: Saturday, April 1, 3pm

Venue: Sixfields

Forecast: 10C, showers

Outs and doubts: Cobblers: Akin Odimayo, Tyler Magloire, Sam Sherring, Max Dyche, Ali Koiki, Shaun McWilliams, Ben Fox, Josh Harrop, Josh Eppiah, Danny Hylton. Stevenage: Elliott List.

Betting: Northampton 13/8, draw 21/10, Stevenage 19/10

Form guide: Cobblers WWWDWD, Stevenage LDWWLW

Current league positions: 2nd v 3rd

Possible line-ups: Northampton: Burge, Lintott, McGowan, Guthrie, Haynes, Sowerby, Leonard, Hondermarck, Hoskins, Bowie, Appéré. Stevenage: McCracken, Smith, Sweeney, Piergianni, Clark, Taylor, Reeves, Gilbey, Roberts, Reid, Norris.

Man in the middle: Simon Mather

Last time out: Doncaster 0 Northampton 2 (Pinnock, Hoskins); Stevenage 1 (Norris) Salford 3

Most recent meeting: October 22, 2022 – Stevenage 2 (Rose, Gilbey) Northampton 3 (Appéré, Bowie, McWilliams)

Record v Stevenage: P16 W12 D3 L1

What Jon Brady said: "The boys have done everything they can to put themselves in this position and they should have all the belief in the world to go out there and enjoy the game and play at their absolute best. Already this season, over the 38 games so far, we have earned the right to be in this position and now we get an opportunity to go and enjoy this match. Everyone is working so hard and like I said before, for us in the situation we're in, with the bodies we have unavailable, I don't think there is any expectation.”

Opposition view: "They are in a great run of form and they are a formidable opponent and we know how tough it will be from our point of view,” said Steve Evans. “It's as tough as it gets. I think we went toe-to-toe with each other earlier in the season and I said at the time that Northampton would certainly challenge for promotion with the squad Jon has available. I have nothing but admiration for Jon and in particular Colin Calderwood – they have done a wonderful job this season.”

Prediction: Northampton 1 Stevenage 1