After Saturday's defeat at Swindon, Town are ready to bounce back on home turf on Tuesday night in a 19:45pm kick-off against Northampton.
Simon Weaver will be hoping to come back from the loss with a win in the fixture to see his side gain all three points, although a difficult task awaits against a side gunning for promotion after narrowly missing out last season.Buy Tickets
Our opponents
Northampton were pipped at the very last minute in 2021/22 with a late Bristol Rovers goal seeing them snatch the last automatic promotion spot. The Cobblers then exited in the playoffs at the hands of Mansfield Town.
They come into the clash occupying the 4th position, with 55 points from their 32 games, and coming to Town after a narrow 1-0 win at Colchester.
They can also boast one of the most potent attacks in the division, netting 45 times overall throughout this season.
They have struggled for consistency lately though as, since the opening of the January transfer window, The Cobblers have racked up 12 of 27 possible points. Of those 12 points, 7 have come from away days at Colchester, Rochdale and Barrow.
Previous meetings
The Cobblers did the double over Town last season, in what was the first encounters between the two clubs.
Jack Diamond's 23rd minute strike cancelled out Fraser Horsfall's early opener but Jon Guthrie netted five minutes into the second half to ensure a 2-1 win for the visitors at The Envirovent Stadium.
In the return fixture Northampton ran out comfortable 3-0 winners, with a Sam Hoskins brace either side of a Louis Appere doing the damage.
The man in charge
Jon Brady is the man in the dugout for the Cobblers, with this being his second full season in charge at the club after taking over towards the end of the 2020/21 campaign.
Brady had previously coached junior sides at the club and was previously manager of Brackley Town and played for a number of non-league sides before hanging up his boots.
Ones to watch
After netting 13 goals in 2021/22, Sam Hoskins already reached that total in just 14 appearances at the start of this season. Forwards Kieron Bowie (four) – who is on loan from Fulham - and Mitch Pinnock (three) trail behind him in the scoring stakes, with Pinnock also contributing six assists.
Defensive midfielder Shaun McWilliams has also chipped in with three goals so far, occasionally operating alongside former Town loanee William Hondermarck.
Defender and captain Jon Guthrie has been an almost ever present in defence, a key figure following the summer departure of Fraser Horsfall, and he will be in front of Lee Burge who arrived from Sunderland in the summer.
Recent history
Formed in 1897 the club were members of the Midland League and Southern League before admitted to the Football League in 1920.
After spending four decades in Third Division South the club achieved three promotions in five seasons to reach the top tier of English football in the mid-1960's, albeit spending a single season at that level before being relegated.
Subsequent relegations saw them back in the bottom tier by 1969, meaning they had progressed from the Division Four to Division One and back again in just nine seasons.
Since then the club have spent their time between the bottom two divisions, most recently being promoted to League One in 2015/16 and 2019/20 before suffering relegation back to League Two.
Team news
Town continue to have long-term absentees in Stephen Dooley, Kyle Ferguson and Kayne Ramsay on the sidelines as Town's injury concerns continued this week with the news that Pete Jameson will miss around four weeks of action with a dislocated and ruptured capsule in his thumb joint.
Preview by Ollie Saltmarsh