The Northampton Low Down | Vital Football

The Northampton Low Down

PompeyFrippy

Vital 1st Team Regular
OPPONENTS: Northampton Town Football Club
MANAGER: Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
NICKNAME: The Cobblers (No, it's true)
LEAGUE POSITION: 22nd

THE JOURNEY: Fratton Park to Sixfields Stadium - 125 miles - less than 5 hours there and back.

LAST TIME OUT:
* Pompey won their first League One away game this season thanks to a 2-0 win. A Pitman penalty and a Chaplin strike either side of half time saw the Blues grab all 3 points in a solid away performance.
* The Cobblers picked up their first points in 5 attempts on Saturday with a 1-0 win at home to Doncaster. New manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink had to wait a whole 21 seconds before seeing his first goal as boss, and Matt Crooks' striker was the only goal in the game.

POMPEY STATS:
* Pompey's win at Wimbledon ended a run of 4 games without a win. Dating back to our last League One campaign, it is only our second win in 22 away League One games.
* Damien McCrory made his first appearance for Pompey on Saturday, while Matt Kennedy and Nathan Thompson made their first starts in the 2-0 victory.
* All 6 of Pompey's goals this season have come from the strikers, which differs vastly from last season where most of the goals came from midfield. Chaplin grabbed his second from the bench and Pitman netted his 4th, with his second penalty of the season.
* Pompey have not lost a league game on a Tuesday in almost a year. Since their defeat to Blackpool last September, the Blues have won 5 and drawn 1 of their midweek meetings.
* Top Scorer: Pitman (4), Chaplin (2)

NORTHAMPTON STATS:
* After losing their first four games this season, former Pompey defender Justin Edinburgh got the sack at Northampton after just 9 months in charge.
* All of Northampton's games this season have either finished 4-1 or 1-0.
* Northampton have scored the joint lowest number of goals in the whole of the Football League. They have only netted 3 times this season, however have played one less game than most teams.
* Dating back to last season, the Cobblers had gone 11 League games without a victory prior to their win on Saturday.
* Top Scorers: Marc Richards/Alex Revell/Matt Crooks (1)

HEAD TO HEAD (Courtesy of Pompeyrama.com):
* The Blues have won half of all meetings against the Cobblers, having won 16 of the 32 games in the last century. Northampton hold 9 victories with 7 games finishing in a draw.
* The sides have met 6 times in League competition in the last few years, all in League Two, with Pompey holding a slight edge with 3 wins to 2 (1 draw).
* The last time these sides met at Sixfields was when Northampton were cruising towards the League Two title. They won 15 games out of 16 between November and only lost 1 game in their last 33 - that loss was to Pompey who came from a goal down to win 2-1 thanks to goals from Conor Chaplin and Gareth Evans.

PLAYED FOR US/PLAYED FOR THEM/SCUMMER WATCH
* David Cornell - Northampton's Number 1 (who is second choice 'keeper) did spend a month at Pompey, though I'd be impressed if anyone remembers. He came on loan from Swansea and never made an appearance in the matchday squads before returning to the valleys.
* Danny Rose - Pompey's holding midfielder has done the rounds and arrived at Pompey from Northampton where he spent 4 months, playing 15 games and scoring once.
* Sam Hoskins - Northampton's attacking midfield threat started at a 'hampton' a bit further south. Coming through their academy he spent 2 years there, most of which was out on loan but he did make 4 cup appearances for the scummers before signing for Yeovil in 2013.

ONE TO WATCH:
* Alex Revell - Pretty much the definition of a lower league journeyman. The 34 year old has played over 550 league games, but only played more than 70 for more than one of them. Northampton is his 13th club and he's scored goals wherever he has gone (134 to be exact) and has still got fire in those aging legs.

PREDICTION:
* Pompey had their best performance of the season at the weekend and will be keen to follow it up with back-to-back away wins. But Northampton are also coming off a big win under their new manager JFH and will be looking to follow up on that. Expect a fiery game with plenty of chances, finishing in a 2-2 draw with Kennedy and Pitman scoring for Pompey.

NEXT 5 GAMES:
Sat 16th Sep - Fleetwood (H) - League One
Sat 23rd Sep - S****horpe (A) - League One
Tue 26th Sep - Bristol Rovers (H) - League One
Sat 30th Sep - Oldham (H) - League One
Sun 8th Oct - Gillingham (A) - League One

PUP
 
The 2017-18 season continues with the latest round of games this midweek, 12th September.


<br><br><a href ="http://www.vitalfootball.co.uk/router.asp?585249">Click here to read the article</a><br><br>
 
Pompey go to Sixfields as the visitors to Northampton today, this will be a 7:45pm kick-off.


<br><br><a href ="http://www.vitalfootball.co.uk/router.asp?585257">Click here to read the article</a><br><br>
 
Pompey had their best performance of the season at the weekend and will be keen to follow it up with back-to-back away wins. Northampton come off a big win under their new manager JFH.


<br><br><a href ="http://www.vitalfootball.co.uk/router.asp?585258">Click here to read the article</a><br><br>
 
The Football League have now announced the Match Day officials that will take charge of the game between Northampton Town and Portsmouth this Tuesday.


<br><br><a href ="http://www.vitalfootball.co.uk/router.asp?585265">Click here to read the article</a><br><br>
 
Pompey go to Sixfields as the visitors to Northampton for the latest League 1 game.


<br><br><a href ="http://www.vitalfootball.co.uk/router.asp?585292">Click here to read the article</a><br><br>
 
All the stats from Northampton Town (3) vs (1) Pompey, Sixfields, 12/09/17 Att: 5,855


<br><br><a href ="http://www.vitalfootball.co.uk/router.asp?585306">Click here to read the article</a><br><br>
 
I wasn't assuming Pompey would win at Northampton but I wasn't anticipating a 3-1 defeat either - failure to take our chances, how could win not score than one from 21 efforts with nine on target - but a failure to be clinical again cost us.

Well, that and defensive mistakes.
 
The League One season continued with the latest round of games played during midweek, 12th September.


<br><br><a href ="http://www.vitalfootball.co.uk/router.asp?585313">Click here to read the article</a><br><br>
 
Northampton were in control of this one on Tuesday with barely half an hour played - the Cobblers eventually went on to beat Pompey 3-1.


<br><br><a href ="http://www.vitalfootball.co.uk/router.asp?585317">Click here to read the article</a><br><br>
 
Again, which wasn't the first time recently, Pompey paid the price for failing to take the chances created as Northampton took theirs at Sixfields on Tuesday in a 3-1 defeat.


<br><br><a href ="http://www.vitalfootball.co.uk/router.asp?585310">Click here to read the article</a><br><br>