Well, we've been pushing for changes in the defense, whether we wanted these two, Barrett and Harding are both suspended, is doubtful, but it gives Herd and Sankofa another chance.
Young Johnny, as you would expect, is up for it: "Playing for the first time in the league would be brilliant and hopefully I will get the chance to play against Northampton. I've enjoyed playing in the FA Cup already this season and if I get a chance on Friday then I aim to make the most of it. I feel I've done well when I've been in the first team and I want to do that again which would also improve my chances of playing against Chelsea. If I could do that then it would just be amazing."
Blues boss Steve Tilson: "Dougie has been training this week so providing he suffers no late injury he will back with us. That's good news and while it's a blow to be missing Adam and Dan it does give others a chance to impress. We're going through a sticky patch and need to get out of it. We have to get something from the Northampton game ahead of playing MK Dons because that is going to be very tricky indeed. It's been difficult for us this season because we've never had a settled side but I still think we are a better team to what we have been showing just lately."
Not a settled side, not a big enough squad, what managers are paid for Tills.
Anyway, this is not going to be a post-Christmas stroll. There's some good players in the Northampton side who are on a decent run, would have been tough enough with our normal eleven, so expect us to win 2-0.
I would place Francis in the middle with Sankofa at right-back but as for the rest, should be OK for forwards on the bench.
Possible XV1: Mildenhall, Sankofa, Clarke, Francis, Herd, Betsy, McCormack, Milsom, Betsy, Barnard, Freedman, Stanislas. Subs: Joyce, Grant, Walker, Revell, Laurent. (Has Feeney gone back, remember him?)
OPPOSITION
| 11 | Hartlepool United | 21 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 25 | 17 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 33 | 31 | 29 | +2 | ||||
| 12 | Northampton Town | 21 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 15 | 19 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 31 | 29 | 28 | +2 | ||||
| 13 | Walsall | 21 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 18 | 18 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 31 | 32 | 28 | -1 | ||||
| 14 | Southend United | 21 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 28 | 35 | 27 | -7 | ||||
| 15 | Bristol Rovers | 21 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 22 | 14 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 17 | 22 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 39 | 36 | 25 | +3 |
Cobblers boss Stuart Gray says striker Adebayo Akinfenwa's return from injury will help his team's midfield engine room to start firing on all cylinders, starting with the Boxing Day trip to Southend.
The club's leading scorer doubled his efforts for full fitness this week, with 20 minutes for the first team against Carlisle on Saturday and a 45-minute run-out for the second team at Rushden on Monday.
Gray will continue to adopt a cautious approach in bringing back a player he wants to keep out of the treatment room at all costs. Especially as, according to the manager, Akinfenwa's presence in the forward line will now help talented midfielders like Giles Coke and Danny Jackman to join in with the attacks and make their presence felt in the final third.
Speaking to the Northampton Chronicle Gray said: "The big bonus for us is having Bayo back because your focal point is your striker and you need someone like him in the side to build off and play from. Just in his little cameo on Saturday he played well. He holds the ball up, he wins free-kicks and he gives the midfield confidence to get forward. He's an experienced player and he's a difficult man to get the ball off. We don't have any time to relax because as soon as the Carlisle game finished we started planning and preparing for this game. It will be a difficult game even though they have been on a bad run of results recently. We've got to make sure we reproduce the hard work of the last two games on a more consistent basis if we want to start moving up the league. Any team can beat anyone on any given day, that's true in our division, in the Premier League, wherever."
The year has been a good one for the Cobblers but looks like ending on a sour note in off-the-field terms, with talks between the club and the borough council over the Sixfields redevelopment breaking down. There has been talk of player sales in the January transfer window as the club look to cut costs but Gray is confident the team are going in the right direction.
Danny Jackman scored direct from a corner as the Cobblers completed an extraordinary comeback to take a point at Scunthorpe. Town were 4-1 down with 40 minutes to play at Glanford Park but a storming second-half recovery saw them draw 4-4 in a thrilling match.
The impressive Gary Hooper scored twice in the first half, drilling one in from 20 yards before adding a header at a corner. Ben May had earlier put the Iron in front with a header from Martyn Woolford's left-wing cross on 13 minutes.
Scott McGleish reduced the arrears with a header of his own but the home side soon extended their advantage when May steered in a rebound from a skidding Woolford shot.
The visitors looked dead and buried at that stage but Giles Coke gave them hope when he picked up the pieces to net from a long ball into the box and Jackman scored his first after playing a one-two with Leon Constantine.
Both Jason Crowe and Constantine hit the crossbar with shots after that as it looked like being a 'close but no cigar' effort for Stuart Gray's men.
But with four minutes on the clock, Jackman completely flummoxed home keeper Joe Murphy with a corner into the wind that went straight in and secured a draw for his side.
Northampton Town: Dunn, Walker, Todd, Hughes (Holt 61), Crowe, Davis, Osman, Jackman, Coke, McGleish (Gilligan 69), Constantine. Subs not used: Zieler, Larkin, Holt, Gilligan, Dolman
PREVIOUSLY
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REF
The man in the middle is Pat Miller from Bedfordshire.
Not appreciated in Devon (October 2008): An excellent performance by Ipswich Town saw them easily win 3-1 at Home Park. Argyle were poor, but the referee Pat Miller was a shocking clown. The FA Respect campaign is now beyond a joke. Argyle were jaded, sloppy and pretty witless which made them far better than referee Pat Miller and his officials. All three of them were shocking and should be disciplined.
The FA and the other knobs that run the game of football once again need to be reminded that it is the fans that pay their hard earned money to be entertained (and in these days of credit crunch and looming recession the value of the fans is even greater) and they deserve far better arbitration than that dished out in Devon today. Miller booked far too many (an unbelievable 10), contrived to send off David Norris, fouled Luke Summerfield (at this point he should have booked himself), and made error after error.
Miller even missed bookings he should have made, awarded a free kick when it should have been a penalty and played a huge part in Ipswich's second goal by missing a push on Seip and then obstructed Summerfield (arguably the referees second bookable offence at which point he should have red carded himself) as he attempted to block Owen Garvan's shot. The reality for Argyle however is that despite Miller's ineptitude, they deserved to lose. (Well I'm please to read that!)
Friday, 26 December 2008 (all 15.00 kick-off unless stated): Brighton v Colchester, Bristol Rovers v MK Dons, (13:00), Carlisle v Huddersfield, Crewe v Oldham, Hereford v Tranmere, Leeds United v Leicester, Leyton Orient v Swindon, Peterborough v Millwall, (12:00), Scunthorpe v Hartlepool, Walsall v Stockport, Yeovil v Cheltenham.
BET
Southend (6/5) Draw (12/5) Northampton (5/2)
Blues now out to 25's with Corals, getting to be worth a bet soon!
For all the footy odds go here: www.oddschecker.com/football/english/league-one.
HISTORY
Northampton Town was founded in 1897 after meetings between the town's schoolteachers and local solicitor A.J. Darnell. At the time schoolboy football was strong in the county due in part to the enthusiasm of the local teachers. They were however dissatisfied with the current arrangement of arranged friendlies between schools preferring to teach the boys through practical examples and they felt this could be done by forming a town team.
At the same time A.J. Darnell travelled to Leicester with the local Rugby team and whilst there witnessed an exhibition football match between Leicester Fosse and Notts County. This gave him the desire to start his own club in Northampton. Mr Darnell and the local schoolteachers came together through their shared aims and on March 6 1897, at the Princess Royal Inn on the Wellingborough Road, Northampton Football Club was formed.
Following objections from the town's rugby club the team were forced to adopt the name of Northampton Town to avoid trouble. The club gained permission to play home matches at the county ground, home of Northamptonshire County Cricket Club, providing that no games were scheduled between May and September, and this was to remain their home for the next 97 years.
Northampton joined the Northants League and spent two seasons there before moving on to the Midland League. Only two seasons later they joined the Southern League in the 1901-02 season. In the 1908-09 season manager Herbert Chapman helped the Cobblers to be crowned champions of the Southern League, and they later faced Newcastle United in the Charity Shield at The Oval where they lost 2-0. Herbert Chapman left to manage Leeds City in 1912, and went on to win the league championship four times: two at Huddersfield Town, and two at Arsenal. (Not bad, was he?)
In 1910, Northampton bought Walter Tull from Tottenham Hotspur. Tull was the second professional black footballer in English football, and stayed with Northampton Town until the outbreak of the First World War, when he volunteered for the British Army. Tull was killed in action in 1918 and the road which leads to the modern Sixfields Stadium (where Northampton play) is called "Walter Tull Way", in his honour.
From the 1930s to the 1950s Northampton Town had attempted to rise from the regional Third Division South, but rose only twice and were immediately relegated. The creation of the Fourth Division spurred a brief substantial rise that culminated in the only season (1965-66) of their existence in the top division of English football. In 1970, they lost 8-2 to Manchester United in the FA Cup fifth round. Six of the goals conceded were scored by George Best, who received the match ball (signed by Northampton players) as a reward for his performance.
Northampton Town Supporters' Trust was formed in January 1992, as a result of a large public meeting attended by over 600 fans. This meeting was called by a group of ordinary supporters, including Rob Marshall, editor of the fanzine What a Load of Cobblers, in response to a financial crisis at the club and a series of misleading statements issued by the then chairman.
The club was reluctant to send representatives to the meeting, but relented at the last minute, and the situation disclosed by them was a debt approaching £1.6 million, representing more than two years' turnover for the club. As the Trust subsequently discovered, the rot had set in some time before, and unpaid bills stretched back several years, to the time of the previous regime at the club.
The crisis, however, had been precipitated by the club's failure to pay the previous two months' players' wages, which amounted to about £64,000. The Professional Footballers' Association had had to cover this, and so it too had now become a creditor of the club.
This unproductive atmosphere must have helped the team finished bottom of the Football League's new Division Three in 1993-94, only avoiding relegation to the Conference because Kidderminster Harriers did not have a satisfactory stadium to join the Football League. Manager John Barnwell was sacked soon afterwards to make way for Ian Atkins, and the club began to move forward.
In 1996-97 they won promotion to Division Two, thanks to a playoff final victory at Wembley over Swansea City, and almost made it two successive promotions the following season - but were beaten 1-0 by Grimsby Town in the Division Two playoff final. The club went down a year later and Atkins resigned, but promotion was earned at the first attempt under new manager Kevin Wilson.
Kevin Wilson was sacked in November 2001 to make way for his assistant Kevan Broadhurst, who steered the Cobblers to Division Two survival. But Broadhurst was sacked in January 2003 with Northampton struggling at the foot of the division, and was briefly replaced by Terry Fenwick, who in turn left after just seven weeks to make way for Martin Wilkinson. Wilkinson lasted little longer, being dismissed in October 2003 in favour of former Scotland and Tottenham Hotspur defender Colin Calderwood.
Calderwood led Northampton to the play-offs in his first season, where they were knocked out in the semi-finals by Mansfield Town after a penalty shoot-out. In the 2004-05 season, Northampton finished 7th, again in the play-offs, where they were defeated by THE BLUES!!!!!! Following this, the manager made substantial changes to the squad, and they enjoyed a successful 2005-06 league season. On April 29, the Cobblers clinched promotion to Football League One for 2006-07, with a 1-0 win at home to Chester City. On May 30 2006, Northampton announced that Calderwood was leaving to join Nottingham Forest as their new manager, and was replaced by John Gorman on June 5.
On December 20, Gorman resigned due to "personal issues" with the side 18th in the table, with Ian Sampson and Jim Barron briefly taking care of first team affairs. He was replaced by former Southampton boss Stuart Gray on January 2, 2007.
Gray is enjoying a successful spell at Northampton, making encouraging signings in his first few weeks. The club looks to be going from strength to strength, finishing 14th at the end of the 2006/07 season, 12 points clear from the relegation zone. Gray made radical changes selling Bradley Johnson and allowing Andy Kirk to leave on a free transfer to Yeovil. It appears the clubs finances are also going from strength to strength, with the club and the local council now firm allies things are looking bright for the club and the area with the new Sixfields drawing ever closer.
2007-08 brought Northampton's highest finish in a decade, as they finished ninth with 66 points.
(Thanks to the all the usual suspects for their help with this article.)