| Saturday at Sixfields - will it be a load of cobblers, or eagles soaring? 12:59 - Oct 23 with 333 views | wessex_exile |
After the dismal display at Newport, dare I say it, the U’s seem to have turned a corner, with very credible draws ground out against a very resolute drilled defensive display from Exeter, and arguably our best performance of the season so far at high-flying Chesterfield. I’m not making a connection here, but both games were without two of our key first teamers in Jack Payne and Harry Anderson. I have no knowledge of the extent of their injuries, but in the absence of anything obviously traumatic happening on the pitch, I hope they are just knocks and niggles – we’ll need them back before too long.
Their absence has given the opportunity for others to force themselves into Danny’s thinking, and by and large they have taken those opportunities. I’m particularly thinking here of Jay Williams and Paul Digby, but Rob Hunt operating further forward was also very effective on Tuesday night. I think we’re also seeing the experiment of playing Oscar in the middle is a thing of the past, showing what he can do from out wide providing a peach of an assist for Ben Perry (in his first league start since his injury) to power home our deserved equaliser at Chesterfield.
Tomorrow’s opponents Northampton Town, as with most of the sides relegated from League 1 last season, have struggled to adapt back to League 2 football. Northampton are in the relegation zone, Rotherham just one point and one place above them, and Port Vale in 20th position, below the U’s on goal difference. I don’t honestly expect any of them to be at risk of relegation at the end of the season, but for now points on the board is going to be the priority. During the week Tranmere took all three points at Sixfields, in a game dominated by Northampton in terms of possession and chances, to give the Superwhites their first away win of the season. Could lightning strike twice at Sixfields for the U’s tomorrow?
Form is temporary…
If a pattern is emerging, at least we can say the U’s are starting to prove we’re hard to beat, with five draws in the last six, with only the Newport horror show blemishing that record. Without banging on about it relentlessly, we’re just a decent striker with confidence away from turning those draws into wins. To be fair to Bradley, I thought he had a very good game on Tuesday, and really should have scored in the second half. Even Chiwome, who replaced him with minutes to go, grazed the bar with an effort that could have won the game for the U’s. Good to see Danny back in the thick of the action too…
Played for both
Given the relative proximity, it is of no surprise to see that the played for both list is particularly long where Northampton is concerned, no Jamie Cureton this time, but Guy ‘more clubs than Tiger’ Branston is there. Of our current squad, I think only Ben Perry and Bez Lubala have also played for Northampton, and provided he’s recovered from a swollen knee that forced him to miss out Chesterfield, Bez may well feature along with Ben at some point tomorrow.
On the books at Blackpool at the time, Bez was on loan at Northampton for the 2021/22 season, before joining the U’s for his first spell on another loan in 2022/23. Ben Perry’s journey is much more straightforward. On the books at Nottingham Forest, he spent most of the second half of the 2024/25 season on loan at Northampton. I’m not certain whether Northampton had any interest, but in the summer of 2025 the U’s paid an undisclosed fee for Ben, only to then see him miss virtually the entire 2025/26 season through injury.
However, the player I’m going to highlight, and for one very specific reason, is Scott McGleish, a legend at both Colchester and Northampton. For this I go back to Tuesday 20th January 2004 for our EFL Trophy Southern Region semi-final at Sixfields. We were there in numbers, and vocal with it, but the game wasn’t really going our way. This was mainly down to Richard Walker, who put the Cobblers into the lead on 14 minutes, and not helped by Martin Smith giving a youthful Greg Halford at right back an absolute torrid time. So much so that Parky had to sub him just after the half-hour mark, before the Geneva Convention was forced to intercede.
Walker was still a handful though, and giving Northampton a two goal cushion early in the second half, even the faithful were realistically thinking our cup run was probably coming to an end. Scott had other ideas and pulled one back on the hour, and with less than five minutes to go scored the equaliser to take the match into ‘Silver Goal’ extra-time. The U’s were rampant, and in the 96th minute an excellent Rowan Vine cross was met again by the head of Scott McGleish to give the U’s a 3-2 lead. We held on until the end of the first period, which by Silver Goals rules, gave us the victory, and the away end went berserk.
As mentioned, there are plenty of other notable names on the list, including Jason Dozzell, Steve McGavin, and Chuck Norris, but it would be wrong of me not to highlight one of my childhood heroes, John Froggatt.
Head to head
To date, we’ve played Northampton Town 69 times in the league (W26, D13, L30) and 12 times in various cup competitions (W4, D1, L7), including that night at Sixfields. However, as I’m making the early trip tomorrow morning, and my personal record is won three and drawn one, let’s hope I can maintain that record of never seeing us lose against the Cobblers.
Games to remember: Other than the EFL Trophy game, probably the most memorable was another in my archive, our 4-0 victory at Sixfields under John McGreal back in February 2019. We even had the luxury of Harry Pell missing a late penalty for a bonus fifth goal. Back in the day we’ve had multiple 4-1 and 5-1 victories, all at Layer Road.
Games to forget: In our inaugural season in Division Three (South) in 1951 Jimmy Allen’s U’s were comprehensively battered 2-5 at Layer Road. There were a number of heavy defeats at the old County Ground over the years, including a 6-1, 5-0, 4-0 and 4-1, but the only time we’ve really been put to the sword at Sixfields was under Steve Whitton in September 2002, when we were soundly beaten 4-1.
Line-up
Whether or not Jack or Harry are available, I have a feeling Danny will keep faith with the starting XI from Chesterfield. He’ll want to keep Perry wrapped in cotton wool for as long as possible, but I would expect to see him come on in the second half. Bradley is just a goal or two away from being the striker we know he can be, but again I’d expect to see Chiwome feature as well at some point, and perhaps a bit longer than his brief cameo at the end on Tuesday night.
Lo-TutalaVincent-YoungTuckerTerryIandoloWilliams (Jay)HuntSesayDigbyWilliams (Jaden)Ihionvien Substitutes: Chiwome Connolly Harvey Kuffour Perry Raggett Thorn
Another tough game approaches, and it won’t be helped by the weather either. Northampton’s stop-start season so far will eventually settle into some sort of consistency, and it’s probably a tough ask to expect them to lose consecutive home games on the bounce. However, surely we’ve got to start hitting the back of the net from more of the chances we’re creating before too long? My head says another draw will be a good result, but my heart says a 3-1 win for the U’s, with a brace from Bradley.
Weather watch
This will be the great equaliser tomorrow, with Storm Boelo scheduled to arrive in force early afternoon, bringing heavy rain and winds from the south-south-west gusting at over 40+ mph and a chilly 9 degrees in the wind. It is of course touch and go whether the game survives the weather, but if it does, it will likely be by virtue of the early 1230 kick-off.
Up the U’s! |  |
| |  |
| Saturday at Sixfields - will it be a load of cobblers, or eagles soaring? on 11:20 - Oct 24 with 67 views | wessex_exile |
A few changes, but the main one is Ben Perry starts and Digby drops to the bench. Jack Payne on the bench, no sign yet of Harry. | |
| |
| Saturday at Sixfields - will it be a load of cobblers, or eagles soaring? on 13:11 - Oct 24 with 34 views | gerry_us |
Same old, same old.. one down early on.
Hopefully we will start playing some time in second half |  | | |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
