Northampton Town Vs Bristol Rovers, Sixfields Stadium, Northampton, Sky Bet League 2, Saturday 1st March 2014, 3:00pm Kick Off please log in to view this image Vs please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Northampton Town F.C. Info please log in to view this image Nickname(s) The Cobblers, Teyn, Shoe Army Founded: 1897 Ground: Sixfields Stadium Capacity: 7,653 Pitch Size: 116 x 72 yards Year Ground Opened: 1994 Address: Sixfields Stadium, Northampton, NN5 5QA Main Telephone No: 01604 683 700 Fax No: 01604 751 613 Ticket Office No: 01604 683 777 Ticket Office Fax No: 01604 589 138 Shirt Sponsors: University Of Northampton Home Kit Colours: Claret and White Away Kit Colours: Black With Red Trim Kit Manufacturers: Errea Official Web Site: www.ntfc.co.uk Current League Position: 23rd Current Form (last 5 games): L W L W W Head To Head Vs The Gas: http://www.bristolrovers-mad.co.uk/head_to_head/next/vs/match/index.shtml Last Time Out [video=youtube;N0OpCrMN2-o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0OpCrMN2-o[/video]
We don't have the best of luck away to The Cobblers winning only 9 of the 44 encounters with them winning 24 so I'm going for draw which I will be happy with anyway. 1-1 for me.
For Anyone Going Tickets: Tickets for Rovers trip to Northampton will be available to buy in advance until 12pm tomorrow. Away supporters are situated in the South Stand of the Sixfields Stadium and tickets are priced at £20 for adults, £16 for senior citizens, £8 for U18s and free for U7s. There will be a £2 price increase on the day of the game. How To Get There: Take the M4 east until Junction 13 for Oxford. Exit the motorway and follow the A34 passing Oxford and then towards the M40 north. Exit the M40 at Junction 10 to join the A43 (heading towards Brackley). Stay on the A43 all the way to the town of Northampton. Cross the M1 at Junction 15A continuing towards Northampton and the stadium will eventually appear on the right. SatNav: NN5 5QA Distance: 110.6 miles Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes Away Facilities: Away fans are located in covered seating behind one goal. The stand is close to the playing area with a great view, and an excellent atmosphere can be generated with a decent following of supporters. The facilities are very good in what is a relatively modern all-seater stadium Last visit: Rovers' last visit to Sixfields came in February last year, the hosts took all three points, winning the game 1-0.
Taken From BBC Sport Bristol Rovers will be without on-loan forward Alan Gow, who was stretchered off with an ankle injury in Tuesday's 1-1 draw with Scunthorpe. Defender Tom Lockyer broke his nose in the same game, and will be assessed prior to the trip to Sixfields. Northampton team news to follow. Bristol Rovers manager John Ward told BBC Radio Bristol: "Chris Wilder has got his team up and running well. He's made some changes at Northampton. "They will be pretty buoyant but we go there with two wins and a draw in our last three games. "Each result helps you to push further forward and we've still got aspirations to see how far up the table we can get. "Saturday will have its own connotations but we just need to get points on the board."
Manager on Saturday's game John Ward will be looking to push his team further up the table with a win at Northampton on Saturday. Although both teams have spent much of the season around the bottom half of the league, the manager will not be putting any extra significance on this game – it is just the next opportunity for his side to pick up points. Northampton have picked up form since bringing in a new manager, and John knows that they will provide a tough test for his side. He said: “We have got to try and win, but every game is like that, each positive result helps you to push further forward. “We have aspirations to look ahead and see how far up this table we can get, I want to try and get more points on the board and see if we can move ourselves up this table a little bit. “Chris Wilder has got his team up and running, he has made some changes and they have won a couple of games and they will be pretty buoyant, but we go in there with two wins and a draw in our last three games, so we are pretty buoyant as well. “So chances are there will be a good game going on. They have got good players in and have recruited well. “They have just beaten Southend United at home, who are looking for promotion, so that is no mean feat. “We have got to be a good team again this weekend, we have to raise our game week in and week out. There is enough confidence about our squad to recognise that we can do that.” Everyone has been surprised with how tight the league is this season. John said: “This is a good league, and a tough league. Fleetwood have lost 12 games and are in the top seven, and we have lost 12 games. “If we can improve our wins total it shows you how close this division is. “This year people are pulling back all the time, so there is a real tightness about it and expected results don’t always happen. “There are some good players and some good results happening in League Two. It is going to go right down to the wire, and we are going to have to keep working all the time.” In team news Alan Gow will undergo a scan this evening to determine the extent of the ligament damage he sustained during the 1-1 draw with Scunthorpe on Tuesday. Tom Lockyer could also miss Saturday’s game, after picking up a broken nose in the midweek match. John said: “Alan is having a scan on the ankle this evening. He had X-Rays up in Scunthorpe which found there wasn’t a break there, but there is ligament damage, and we have to see the extent of that. “We should get results on that tomorrow, but we are looking at Alan being out for quite a while, which is a great shame because he had made a good impact on the team and the dressing room. “Keeping him beyond the end of the season was discussed in the early stages of the deal, and we have to have a look at that as it moves on. “Alan is a good footballer and if we can keep him, I would like to do that. “Tom Lockyer broke his nose and it was a staff decision to bring him off as he was having a bit of difficulty breathing. Olile Clarke came in and looked as if he had never been away. “Leading up to Saturday we will be assessing Tom, we don’t think there is the necessity for an operation, but there is still some swelling around the nose and we have to make sure he is ok before we make that decision. “If he were to miss Saturday we are pretty sure he would be ok for the following week.” And although the manager will miss Gow, he knows he now has some impressive alternatives. He said: “Steven Gillespie came on for his longest period in our shirt and looked a little bit rusty, but then he found a big one and got us a point. “John-Joe can step up there as we have the strength in midfield to allow us to do that. We will cover Alan’s loss and I am sure we will cover it well. “We think Matt Harrold is getting better, and I will check up on him today.”
The Cobblers are on a bit of a roll, so I think this will be one of the tougher ones. And they seem to be a bogey team. Anything will be a bonus.
All you need to know about tomorrow's opponents Bristol Rovers' visit to Northampton Town pits two of the form teams in the Division together, even though you would not believe it looking at the League table. In their last six games the Cobblers have won 3 drawn 1 and lost 2 (putting them in 6th place), Rovers have won 2, drawn 2 and lost 2 (putting them in 12th spot). In mid-week the Midlanders moved off the bottom of the table for the first time this year after beating Southend 2-1. It is the first time the team has achieved back-to-back victories this season and although the gap to safety remains five points they are now in good form and starting to build momentum. After just 7 minutes the home team went in front when Brennan Dickenson fizzed in a low cross that was put behind for a corner by John White. Chris Hackett delivered a whipped ball in that Mathias Kouo-Doumbe met with perfect timing and ferocity at the back post. Just 10 minutes later the Shrimpers were level after a long run from midfield by Michael Timlin culminated in him slipping the ball past the Cobbler’s keeper Matt Duke. Just before the hour mark, the Cobblers retook the lead with a goal created by substitute Alan Connell as his pass down the right-hand touchline allowed Emile Sinclair, to get beyond Ben Coker and pick out a pass to Hackett. The winger hammered the ball past Daniel Bentley in the Southend goal. Speaking after the game Northampton Town manager Chris Wilder said, “It was another great effort by the players. I wanted us to play a little bit more first half - they didn't allow us to get our heads up, but we did in the second half. When the final whistle went, people weren't talking about our league position. "It's a valuable three points and if we play with the same commitment and drive that we have tonight, then we'll continue to be a difficult side to play against. I don't think anybody will fancy playing us at the minute. “It was a tight game against a very good side and it had a little bit of everything really. Southend surprised us with their shape at first and they didn't allow us to play at all in the first half but we got to grips with it and I thought we got better as the game went on. The substitutes we brought into the game managed to put them under a bit of pressure, too. “Gradually we wore them down and we could have nicked another one in the last 15 minutes of the match but it's a great effort and a very good result for us. We got the crowd off their feet with our committed performance and that is always pleasing as a manager.” As members of the old Third Division (South) Rovers have a long tradition of games against the Cobblers. There have been some stirring games but perhaps none bring such painful memories than the Cobblers’ 1997/98 Play-off Semi-Final victory. In the first meeting between the clubs in 1907/08 season Rovers ran out 1-0 winners at the County Ground on 11 January 1908. In the first four post-World War II meetings between the teams the away team won the lot! The 1989/90 Championship season probably summed up the difference between a winning and losing team. In the game at Twerton Park on 29th October 1989, Bobby Brown was running the Rovers defence ragged and the undefeated home record looked in danger. Goals by Devon White and Paul Nixon had the game tied at 2-2. Late in the game Devon White was controversially brought down in the box and Holloway converted the penalty to give the Gas an unlikely lead. Then with the seconds ticking away an unlucky Trevor Quow guided a clearance into his own net to give the final score of 4-2. It was all 6 points to Rovers largely due to their 'never say die' spirit, after another Ian Holloway penalty secured a 2-1 win at the County Ground. The previous time Rovers had 'done the double' over the Cobblers was back in 1967/68 season. Two goals in the home game by Stuart Taylor secured the points at Eastville. However it was the game at the County Ground that had been so remarkable. Rovers’ away record was nothing to shout about, of their first 7 away games they had won 1 drawn 2 and lost 4, the Cobblers had won 5 of their previous 6 games. Converted Left Half (Remember them? They used to wear number 6) Ray Mabbutt had a field day in the County Ground mud. Frank Large gave the home team an early lead but Rovers were quickly level when a Johnny Williams pile driver was parried by Harvey straight to Mabbutt, who stabbed the ball home. Soon after Large was brought down in the box and Mackin scored from the spot. It fell to Bobby Jones scoring against his old club to restore Rovers to parity. A 30-yard shot from Johnny Williams gave Rovers a 3-2 lead but that man Large made sure things were all square by half time. It was some while into the second-half before the goals started to roll in again, Mabbutt accepting a simple tap in before Large scored the Cobblers fourth goal and completed his hat trick. Not to be outdone Mabbutt scored once more to complete the only hat trick of his career and to give Rovers an incredible 5-4 away win In the 1997/98 Play-Off Semi-Finals, having secured a 3-1 home win many Rovers fans were already booking tickets for Wembley. However the Cobblers thought (quite rightly, as it turned out) that their away goal, scored late in the game, would be crucial. So it turned out, the 3-0 reverse at Sixfields was stunning. At Sixfields Rovers' last victory was on 6 November 2007, since then they have had a 0-0 draw and lost 3-2 and 1-0 last season. At Northampton of the 43 games played the home team has won 24, there have been 9 draws and 11 Rovers’ victories. Looking ahead to this weekend Chris Wilder is demanding his team finish off a so far excellent week with a good performance, “We talked about this being a big week and now we need to finish it off, “he said. “Bristol Rovers are dangerous opponents and the players know that this game will be just as tough if not more so than the games we’ve played. We can be happy and pleased with our performances and results this week and we’ve got momentum in our favour now. “The crowd are unbelievably behind us at the moment which is a brilliant thing because that does give the players a lift and it’s important that we keep that going. "We’ve worked really hard to be a competitive side with good ability and we’ve got to keep bringing those two things together if we are going to do anything. Everybody has to put their body on the line and that’s what they’ve been doing.” The Cobblers have no fresh injury worries Joe Widdowson, who sat out the Southend game with an ankle problem, will have a late fitness test on the injury. Defender Lee Collins will be out for the rest of the season after foot surgery, as will Kelvin Langmead (knee), Lewis Hornby (back) and Alex Nicholls (broken leg).
ward happy to be more attacking now in away games.... http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/ready-...-Rovers-boss/story-20724301-detail/story.html should be interesting!
line up.... Mildenhall, Smith, Parkes, McChrystal, Brown, Clarkson, O'Toole, Lockyer, Clarke, Mohamed and Beardsley. subs.... Woodards, Gillespie, Harrison, Harding, Gough, Clucas and Santos
away in nearly full and in apparently in very good voice according to rovers twitter please log in to view this image
rovers defending at the away end 1st half so shooting towards the gasheads in 2nd half. rovers just kicked off.
1 chance each so far, good play by rovers and mohammed blast over. northampton shot saved by mildenhall.
been told that northampton stewards have opened up more space for our away fans. we have taken more than they thought we would! please log in to view this image
clarkson in good shooting chance but went down over his own feet and not appealing for a pen. position lost.
