Chris Wilder gets the Champagne spraying startedChris Wilder gets the Champagne spraying started
Chris Wilder gets the Champagne spraying started

PICTURE SPECIAL: Chris Wilder's Cobblers' title party at Sixfields - four years on!

This week marks the fourth anniversary of the day the Cobblers were presented with the trophy for winning Sky Bet League Two in the 2015/16 season.

April 30, 2016, was a memorable afternoon at Sixfields as Luton Town were swept aside 2-0 in the club’s final home game of a superb season.

The title had been clinched with a 0-0 draw at Exeter City a couple of weeks earlier, but Chris Wilder’s relentless Cobblers were keen to maintain their long unbeaten run.

With a party atmosphere inside a jam-packed Sixfields, first-half goals from Zander Diamond and John Marquis were enough to see off the Hatters, but the match was only the warm-up.

The main event was still to come, which was the first league championship trophy being handed to a Cobblers captain since Trevor Morley lifted the Division Four title way back in 1987.

The manager of that great Town team, Graham Carr, brought the trophy out to podium on the pitch alongside chairman Kelvin Thomas, and then it was time for Wilder and his players to make their appearances.

The management team and squad all entered the field of play one by one, before captain Marc Richards strode out to the middle.

The striker was handed the impressive league two trophy and gleefully lifted it above his head to spark wild celebrations and really get the title party up and running.

Plenty of Champagne was sprayed, and plenty of beer supped as Wilder and his players undertook a thoroughly deserved lap of honour.

They had stormed to the league two title, shrugging off a cash crisis along the way, and this was a day for everybody connected with the Cobblers to relish and enjoy.

So, as well all struggle with the coronavirus-enforced shut down of sport, and lockdown of our everyday lives, here are a few of photographer Kirsty Edmonds’ pictures from that great day to give everybody a little lift..

With a party atmosphere inside a jam-packed Sixfields, first-half goals from Zander Diamond and John Marquis were enough to see off the Hatters, but the match was only the warm-up.