>Season In Review 2007/08…February…

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As the Cobblers’ season really kicked off in early 2008, the momentum would run into February as we made moves into the top half of the table.

The first game of the month took us to Swindon and Adebayo Akinfenwa made his debut after joining the club in the January transfer window. Akinfenwa would be the saviour at the County Ground in an exciting second half. Blair Sturrock gave the Robins the lead but the big man came off the bench to head home his first goal for the club from a left wing corner.

The following weekend we welcomed Leeds United to Sixfields and it looked like Jonathon Howson’s goal had given the visitors the win but Akinfenwa popped up again to barge through the Leeds defence and blast home the leveller with fifteen minutes to go.

A Tuesday night trip to Yeovil ended in a disasterous evening as we walked for an hour to get to the ground from our hotel and ended up twenty minutes late. To cap it all off, Yeovil scored a winner in stoppage time through Terry Skiverton to round off a dismal night.

But a few days later and we were right back on track in style with a comprehensive 4-0 home win over Gillingham. Jason Crowe and Adebayo Akinfenwa scored twice in two minutes just before the break to give us the half time advantage before Akinfenwa and Giles Coke hit two more in the second 45.

The final game of the month saw a Friday night trip to Hartlepool United end in success. With just eight minutes to go, Giles Coke hit a long range effort that slipped under home keeper Jan Budtz and we had a second straight victory for the first time since October.

A busy month of March would follow and we would eventually end up in nose bleed territory anf flirting with the playoffs…

>Season in Review 2007/08…January…

>The early days of 2008 would see the start of a real turn around in the Cobblers’ fortunes as we began to ease away from the relegation pack and closer to safety.

The first game of the year came at home to Millwall and Dean Bowditch looked to have given us all three points at Sixfields until Gary Alexander equalised in stoppage time. Alexander had been a summer transfer target of Stuart Gray until the Lions came in for the striker.

Next up was the long awaited trip to Elland Road but without the likes of Poul Hubertz and Daniel Jones we were always going to be up against it. As was the case at Swansea a month before, we froze against one of the better sides away from home and goals from Frazer Richardson, Rui Marques and Curtis Weston sealed a comfortable win for the home side that had previously been in the middle of a slump following an excellent first half of the season.

The following weekend saw another frustrating home draw keep us rooted in the bottom half of the table. Hartlepool United came to town and grabbed a point through Ben Clark on the stroke of half time after Liam Dolman had scored his first ever goal in a Cobblers shirt.

An important away win followed though as we travelled to Gillingham. An early free kick from Daniel Jones was enough to win the game and kick start a good run of form for the side.

As our climb up the table began, Leyton Orient were swept aside 2-0 at Sixfields in the first of two home wins to round off January. Giles Coke and Poul Hubertz were on target against the O’s before the month ended with a success over Brighton and Hover Albion.

This time it took a solitary goal from Mark Hughes to decide it just a minute before half time and we were beginning to gain momentum as February kicked in…

>The Midweek Review…21/05/08…

>With just the small matter of the playoffs and the Champions League final to decide, the season is coming to an abrupt end and the wait will begin on Monday for possibly our most anticipated season in recent memory.

The stage is already set for a grand summer at Sixfields. Already we have Gilligan and Holt both signed up and Bayo given a very good offer to stay if rumours are true and he would be one of the top earners at the club should he decide that his future is at Sixfields. The early decisions of both Gilligan and Holt to sign again shows that Stuart Gray has them believing in what could be a very bright future.

Holt’s experience could be invaluable next season as the majority of the squad are of a young age. He’s been fairly inconsistent at times but his strength down the left goes a little unnoticed at times. A couple of goals late in the season also helped his cause and we certainly don’t have many like him in the rest of the squad.

Mark Bunn is attracted a lot of interest as usual but it turns out that Stuart Gray and David Cardoza are not giving up the fight to keep him and are in contract talks with the keeper. Another massive sign of intent from the club and it’s hard to see anything that’s wrong with the set up at the moment. Relations with the council seem to be improving, as does the financial situation and everything just seems a little bit too right at the moment! A typical Cobblers fans’ view is that something will surely go wrong somewhere!

Looking ahead to the playoff finals this weekend and three intriguing games to get through to round off the season. Two northern towns go head to head as Stockport County take on Rochdale in the League Two final on Monday and Rochdale in particular will be desperate to get out of the basement league after over thirty years in the bottom flight of English football without a promotion or relegation!

In League One, Leeds will be favourites to overcome Doncaster but Rovers hit an impressive five past Southend last week in the semi-finals so could well push them hard. It would be nice to go to Elland Road again next season but the head says that we should be hoping that it’s Donny who remain in this division.

The Championship showpiece takes place on Saturday and both Bristol City and Hull City will be looking to make history. Both sides have rocketed up the league ladder in recent years and will both see themselves as having a very good chance of beating their opponents.

Watching the playoffs and it’s hard not to feel a little sad that we didn’t make it ourselves. Just watching other sides in a similar position to us make it up to the next level is heart wrenching and even seeing Bristol City one game away from the Premier League gives hope to anyone with a claret heart.

But for now we watch in jealousy as the playoff final takes place and hope that come this time next year we’ll be creating a little bit of history ourselves.

Up The Cobblers!

Danny

>Season in Review 2007/08…December…

>Following a desperately poor month of league form in November, the Christmas period began with the F.A. Cup distracting us from four defeats without a goal in League One. As the month went on though, Stuart Gray managed to turn things around as we narrowly missed out on a massive win at the City Ground.

The month began as the previous one had ended, with a home game with Walsall. In the final league game of November, the Saddlers claimed a 2-0 win at Sixfields but this time, in the F.A. Cup Second Round, had to settle for a replay. Tommy Mooney gave the visitors a fourth minute lead but Andy Kirk struck just a few minutes later to take the tie back to The Bescot Stadium.

Back in the league and it was five defeats in a row as we travelled to Swansea on a Tuesday night. Totally outplayed and outclassed, we folded in the first half as Jason Scotland and Darren Pratley had the Swans 2-0 up in twenty minutes. Scotland added a second half penalty to seal it and we had now lost five games in a row in League one without registering a goal.

With Stuart Gray desperate for a turn around, Carlisle United came to town on good form. Marc Bridge-Wilkinson gave them an expected lead but Jason Crowe hit back with our first goal in six games just a couple of minutes later. Joe Garner looked to have won it for the Cumbrians in the second half but Bradley Johnson scored in stoppage time to earn a much needed point.

With the league slide halted, it was time for the cup replay and after an even game at Walsall, we were edged out by a penalty from Michael Ricketts and our interest in cup competitions were over for another season.

The following weekend and we were off to the City Ground to take on Colin Calderwood’s Nottingham Forest. Lewis McGugan put Calderwood’s side in front but from then on we slowly pushed them back. On 59 minutes, Poul Hubertz gave us a well deserved equaliser and five minutes later Daniel Jones sent the thousands of travelling fans wild with a bullet of a goal from distance. It looked like we could hold on for a famous win but deep into injury time Forest won a corner and Junior Agogo pounced to head home a late, late equaliser.

The Forest draw would turn out to be somewhat of a positive step for the club though and the following weekend Bournemouth were on the end of the backlash. Loan man Dean Bowditch gave us the lead and after Brett Pitman had hit a quick fire leveller, we stormed to our first win in eight league games. Jason Crowe, Daniel Jones and Bradley Johnson were on target as the Cobblers recorded a 4-1 win.

Boxing Day saw a trip to Doncaster end in disappointment as the home side eased past us 2-0 thanks to strikes from Mark McCammon and Adam Lockwood in the first half.

But the final game of 2007 would see us bounce back again as we won at Huddersfield Town’s Galpharm Stadium for the first time. Andy Booth scored on the stroke of half time to give Huddersfield the lead but goals from Poul Hubertz and Jason Crowe turned things around in the final fifteen minutes and the year ended on a high.

There was still work to be done in 2008 to stave off the fear of relegation though and Stuart Gray would need to use all his usual know how in the transfer window to take us up to the next level.

>Season in Review 2007/08…December…

>Following a desperately poor month of league form in November, the Christmas period began with the F.A. Cup distracting us from four defeats without a goal in League One. As the month went on though, Stuart Gray managed to turn things around as we narrowly missed out on a massive win at the City Ground.

The month began as the previous one had ended, with a home game with Walsall. In the final league game of November, the Saddlers claimed a 2-0 win at Sixfields but this time, in the F.A. Cup Second Round, had to settle for a replay. Tommy Mooney gave the visitors a fourth minute lead but Andy Kirk struck just a few minutes later to take the tie back to The Bescot Stadium.

Back in the league and it was five defeats in a row as we travelled to Swansea on a Tuesday night. Totally outplayed and outclassed, we folded in the first half as Jason Scotland and Darren Pratley had the Swans 2-0 up in twenty minutes. Scotland added a second half penalty to seal it and we had now lost five games in a row in League one without registering a goal.

With Stuart Gray desperate for a turn around, Carlisle United came to town on good form. Marc Bridge-Wilkinson gave them an expected lead but Jason Crowe hit back with our first goal in six games just a couple of minutes later. Joe Garner looked to have won it for the Cumbrians in the second half but Bradley Johnson scored in stoppage time to earn a much needed point.

With the league slide halted, it was time for the cup replay and after an even game at Walsall, we were edged out by a penalty from Michael Ricketts and our interest in cup competitions were over for another season.

The following weekend and we were off to the City Ground to take on Colin Calderwood’s Nottingham Forest. Lewis McGugan put Calderwood’s side in front but from then on we slowly pushed them back. On 59 minutes, Poul Hubertz gave us a well deserved equaliser and five minutes later Daniel Jones sent the thousands of travelling fans wild with a bullet of a goal from distance. It looked like we could hold on for a famous win but deep into injury time Forest won a corner and Junior Agogo pounced to head home a late, late equaliser.

The Forest draw would turn out to be somewhat of a positive step for the club though and the following weekend Bournemouth were on the end of the backlash. Loan man Dean Bowditch gave us the lead and after Brett Pitman had hit a quick fire leveller, we stormed to our first win in eight league games. Jason Crowe, Daniel Jones and Bradley Johnson were on target as the Cobblers recorded a 4-1 win.

Boxing Day saw a trip to Doncaster end in disappointment as the home side eased past us 2-0 thanks to strikes from Mark McCammon and Adam Lockwood in the first half.

But the final game of 2007 would see us bounce back again as we won at Huddersfield Town’s Galpharm Stadium for the first time. Andy Booth scored on the stroke of half time to give Huddersfield the lead but goals from Poul Hubertz and Jason Crowe turned things around in the final fifteen minutes and the year ended on a high.

There was still work to be done in 2008 to stave off the fear of relegation though and Stuart Gray would need to use all his usual know how in the transfer window to take us up to the next level.

>Season in Review 2007/08…November…

>November was to see a real decline in the season for The Cobblers as some of the good early work was undone by a poor run of form despite progress in the F.A. Cup.

The month began with The Cobblers on the verge of making a push for the top six and, off the back of our first away win of the season at Oldham, sprits were high as Southend came to town. An Adam Barrett header in the second half was enough to end our good run though and we needed to bounce back immediately as we hosted Bristol Rovers the following Tuesday.

But Rovers would also leave Sixfields with a win by the single goal as Rickie Lambert scored the only goal of the game with twenty minutes to go.

Back to back defeats were followed by a trip to League Two high flyers Darlington in the first round of the F.A. Cup. An early goal from Gregg Blundell for the home side was coupled with an injury to skipper Chris Doig and Doig would be out until April with a long term problem. Colin Larkin scored the equaliser to take the tie to a replay.

Another single goal defeat in the league, this time at Crewe, would condemn us to our third straight loss in League One before Andy Kirk and Bradley Johnson secured progress in the cup replay against Darlington. We were drawn against Walsall at home in Round Two.

But before the cup meeting with Walsall, we would play them in the final league game of November. Mark Bradley and Ishmel Demontagnac scored in the second half to make it four defeats without scoring a goal for Stuart Gray’s men as the month ended with us languishing in the lower reaches of the table.

>Season in Review 2007/08…October…

>In a mixed month of October, the Cobblers would be brought right back down to earth after a good run but would also pick up their first away win of the season.

Millwall away was next up on the list for Stuart Gray’s men and after an unbeaten September, spirits were high. Going to the New Den at any time can be intimidating but on a cold Tuesday night it’s certainly not the nicest of places for a night out. After we rushed up from Southampton and darted across to The Den, we were told that there was no need at all to rush. The Cobblers team bus had been held up and the game would kick off fifteen minutes late!

The delay meant that we only got about a ten minute warm-up and injuries early on to Chris Doig and Jason Crowe combined with a poor performance led to an inevitable defeat. Alan Dunne and Paul Robinson scored the goals in a 2-0 Millwall win.

The following Saturday saw struggling Port Vale come to town and it was three wins in a row at Sixfields as an Andy Kirk double helped to see off the Valiants. David McGoldrick was on target for the visitors.

Sky Sports showed the next Cobblers game, an away trip to Luton. In an entertaining first half, Darren Currie put Luton in front before Bradley Johnson equalised with a belter of a shot from all of thirty yards. Matthew Spring put the home side back in front with a penalty just after the break and further goals from Paul Furlong and Spring again, another penalty, gave Luton a flattering 4-1 win.

Another home win followed, this time against Cheltenham Town, as Ryan Gilligan grabbed a winner ten minutes from time. Andy Kirk has earlier given the Cobblers the lead to which Damien Spencer levelled.

The month ended with our long awaited first away win of the season at Oldham. In a poor game it was Bristol City loan man Alex Russell that scored the winner from long range on 66 minutes and after three draws and three defeats we were off the mark in the wins column away from Sixfields.

With a mixed month of October, we were sitting pretty in the top half of the table and the final action of the month saw us drawn away at League Two side Darlington in the first round of the F.A. Cup.

>The Midweek Review…15/05/08…

>It’s all go in the playoffs as the first legs are now done and dusted while Orient are sniffing around our ex-front two pairing. All eyes on the transfer window now as the summer begins…

As The Cobblers settle into the summer holidays we have already booked up three friendly games. Brackley will be the first point of call and that could turn out to be a clever PR move by the club, looking to attract a few more fans from that side of Northamptonshire.

A trip to Luton has also been arranged, as has a home game with West Bromwich Albion, who will, by then, be a Premier League outfit. The Baggies beat us 5-1 last summer so we will be looking for a better fight this time around.

Leyton Orient have already made moves to try and sign Poul Hubertz and Adebayo Akinfenwa. Of course they are free to do so but it would be a major disappointment if Bay were to choose Orient over our contract offer. After a great start to the season, Orient fell badly and ended up below us in the table. Next season could be tricky for them and surely we would hold a better option for the big man.

As for Hubertz, he has indicated that he could be on the move back to Denmark though another season in the capital could persuade him. Of course he will score against us if he were to sign for Martin Ling’s side!

The playoffs are in full swing and Carlisle pulled off somewhat of a shock by beating Leeds. The late goal from Dougie Freedman could well be the one that keeps Leeds in the tie, though they must go to Brunton Park knowing Carlisle have an outstanding home record.

As far as who we should want to win the playoffs, surely Leeds will be the ones we want rid of. With Elland Road chalked off the “grounds visited” list, it would seem the sensible choice to cheer them on in the playoffs. Firstly because next season they would be an awesome force in this league and secondly because League One should be happy to be rid of their constant moaning about their points.

Without Forest and Leeds, League One could be an immensely close season next time around and all the better our chances would be. The other three contenders, Carlisle, Doncaster and Southend do not hold as much a threat while of the relegated Championship sides, Leicester are the only ones that stand out.

David Cardoza has said today that he expects five new summer signings and that the main concern is the midfield and attacking options. One of these signings, a midfielder, could be in place as early as next week according to the chairman.

As we get used to Saturdays without football for a few months, we remain focused on the transfer market in what could be an exciting summer at Sixfields.

Up The Cobblers!

Danny

>Season in Review 2007/08…September…

>The look back on last season continues as we head into September, a month where the Cobblers started and ended the month by throwing away two goal leads away from home!

September began with a trip to in form Leyton Orient, the surprise early pace setters in League One. With just one point from our opening three games we took a surprise 2-0 lead at Brisbane Road as Poul Hubertz and Chris Doig scored in the opening twenty minutes. The lead last until the hour mark, by which time Adam Chambers and Tamika Mkandawire had levelled things up. We held on for a point but were still in desperate need for the first win.

On a cold Tuesday night at Kenilworth Road, we were dumped out of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy in the first round as Luton eased to a 2-0 win.

The first league victory wasn’t long in coming though as Doncaster Rovers came to town in the first Friday night game of the season. We had to wait until after the break but goals from Ryan Gilligan and Andy Kirk finally got us off the mark and set up a good run of form at Sixfields.

Next up was a trip to Bournemouth on the hottest day of the season in mid-September. Veteran Cherries midfielder Darren Anderton gave Bournemouth the lead in the first half and it looked like we were heading for defeat until Colin Larkin volleyed home his first goal for the club with twelve minutes to play. The Cobblers could well have won it late on but had to settle for a point.

Another impressive home performance followed when Huddersfield Town came to Sixfields. Poul Hubertz scored just before half time and further strikes from Andy Holt and Andy Kirk sealed a comfortable win.

September ended with an away day at Tranmere and despite going 2-0 up through Kirk and Hubertz, the home side came back to claim a point as Chris Shuker and Gareth Taylor pulled the game level.

So after a good month of September, a month where we unbeaten in five games, we would look to continue the form into October, a month that would begin with a disaster at The Den and end with our first away win of the season.

>Two important dates for the diary!

>The 2007/08 season is close to its conclusion and for Cobblers fans attention turns to the next campaign. After a strong finish to the current campaign, we eagerly await the start of proceedings on 2008/09.

Two important dates have been announced by the Football League today as we wait to find out who we will be playing and when. The new football league fixtures will be released on Monday, June 16th 2008 at 10am. Meanwhile, the new season will kick off on Saturday, August 9th.

Keep watching this space for all the build up to the new campaign and some special features over the summer!