Christmas cheer needed as Northampton take on Lincoln City

Northampton Town welcome high-flying Lincoln City to Sixfields in League One this weekend, with both sides looking to end recent rotten runs of form.

The Cobblers find themselves just a point and place above the drop zone and come into this one off the back of three successive losses. This included a 2-0 defeat to Doncaster Rovers, a heart-breaking 2-1 loss at Crewe last Saturday where they conceded right at the death and then a 4-0 thrashing in midweek at the hands of local rivals Oxford United, a side who are also around them in the table and struggling .

The loss at the Kassam Stadium left manager Keith Curle seething and allegedly ‘locked the dressing room door ninety minutes after the full time whistle‘.

Curle had publicly criticised the fight of the players after the match, but he too has come under fire from the Cobblers faithful, who have questioned whether last season’s League Two Play-Off winners have enough to survive in the third-tier.

But Curle will be hoping to prove his critics wrong, and with Northampton remaining under Tier Two of the national restrictions, they will have 2000 fans in attendance on Saturday, whom the ex-Manchester City defender hopes will give his side a lift:

“This is a relationship and within that relationship, I know that the supporters won’t walk away from their football club,” they will back us and now we need them.

“This is the time when we need them. We were disappointed when they weren’t there when we beat Cheltenham and turned adversity into our favour and when we went to Wembley and won the play-offs when nobody fancied us.

“We’re desperate for that support and we need their backing. There are two sides to every relationship and we are definitely ‘us’. It’s not us and them. It’s us. We’re all in this together, we’re all in the same fight and we’re all on the same page.”

Victory for Northampton would keep them out of the bottom four and could even see them move as high as 15th. But it’s won’t be an easy one, Lincoln City have impressed in League One so far and currently sit fourth in the table.

However the Imps have also had a torrid week, suffering back-to-back defeats at the LNER Stadium. The most recent was to Shrewsbury Town, who ironically are a place below Northampton, 1-0, and of course the 4-0 loss to Sunderland.

Michael Appleton’s men are the second lowest goalscorers in the top half, having scored 20 goals this season. However, they do have one of the most potent strikers in the division in Jorge Grant who has already netted seven times.

They also have an impressive defensive record too, they have conceded just 15 goals, which is the second best record in the division. A third of those goals let in of course came in their last two games.

With Hull City and Portsmouth facing each other in Friday’s evening kick off, as well as Peterborough’s match with Ipswich being called off due to an coronavirus outbreak at the club, a win for the Imps could move them into the top two.

Last Time Out

Lincoln and Northampton’s previous meetings came back in League Two in the 2018/19 season, that season the Imps were promoted as the division’s Champions.

The first of those was on the opening day of the season where Lincoln came away from Sixfields with all three points.

The next was in the First Round of the FA Cup where a 92nd minute goal from Bruno Andrade earned the Imps a last gap 3-2 win.

The proceeding league fixture at the LNER however finished one a piece, Andrade opened the scoring, but an equaliser from Aaron Pierre sent the Cobblers back south with a point

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