Bristol Rovers winless run has now gone into double figures. With nine of those games in the League the Gas have picked up just 4 points from the 27 on offer, a 15% return, which has seen them tumble from 6th place when they last tasted victory (at Luton in early September) until they find themselves in 19th place now.

A mid-week trip to Northampton's Sixfields Stadium would not be "what the doctor ordered" for Rovers, their record in the East Midlands is a poor one the Cobblers have won 23 and lost only 10 of the 44 games there. The most recent encounter between these two sides at Sixfields was two seasons ago, in November 2005, as they swept to an impressive 4-0 win in a League Two match.

Paul Trollope will be leading the team against a club that he knows very well, having played for them 99 times in just over two years, but he will have to break something of a hoodoo if he is to record an away win for the Gas. Rovers have yet to win at Sixfields, their last victory in Northampton being in 1989/90 season.

Looking at the history of our opponents this week, founded in 1897, like Rovers by a group of School Teachers, Northampton Town joined the Southern League in 1901/02, having previously played in the Northants League and the Midland League.

The going was tough to start off with in the Southern League and the Cobblers twice finished bottom, mainly due to players being snapped up by league clubs, who were able to pay better wages. However by 1908/09 Northampton were champions of the Southern League.

Like Rovers, Northampton were founder Members of the new Third Division in 1920/21 season. After 37 years of non-movement the Cobblers first change was to unluckily drop a Division. Moving forward to 1957/58 they finished the season 13th, just one place below the cut off point and were relegated to the newly formed Division Four. But things were to change.

The club's stay in the Fourth Division only lasted for three seasons, the £7,000 re-arrival of Dave Bowen from Arsenal, in 1959, as Player Manager was to be the start of a truly remarkable decade. The Cobblers finished 3rd in Division Four in 1960/61 and were promoted to Division Three.

Just two years later in 1962/63 the Cobblers were crowned champions of the Third Division scoring 109 goals. Five players reached double figures; the top scorer was Alec Ashworth with 25 league goals in just 30 matches.

Amazingly the Cobblers finished Division Two runners-up in 1964/65 just one point behind Champions, Newcastle United, Cobblers goalkeeper, Bryan Harvey saved seven penalties during the season, including two in one match against Southampton.

1965/66 is the only season that the Cobblers have ever spent in the top flight of English football. Manchester City's legendry Manager Joe Mercer was later to say, "The miracle of 1966 was not England winning the World Cup, but Northampton reaching Division One". Barry Lines made history by becoming first player to play and score in all four divisions for the same club.

1966/67 was another season to end in relegation, this time to Division Three and a year later the club just managed to avoid relegation to the Fourth Division, finishing 18th. However it was just a delay of the inevitable and in 1968/69 the cycle was complete and the Cobblers finished 21st, despite having an outside chance of promotion with 10 games to go, and were relegated to the basement division. Rising from top to bottom and back down again, just as quickly, all in the space of a decade.

For the first time since becoming a League side the club had to apply for re-election in 1971/72 and again the following season.

By 1975/76, the Cobblers finished 2nd in Division Four without losing a home game, and were promoted to Division Three, behind Champions Lincoln City, who were also undefeated at home. Every regular player scored during the season, including the goalkeeper, Alan Starling, who netted from a penalty in the penultimate home game against Hartlepool United. 1976/77 brought relegation back to Division Four

It took 10 years of anxiety before the Cobblers next achieved success, when in 1986/87 the Fourth Division Championship was emphatically won, gaining a club record total of 99 points and scoring 103 goals. By 1989/90 the club was relegated to Division Four once again

Things worsened for the club financially, and they went into administration in April 1992, with debts of around £1,600,000, ten of the clubs players were sacked and youth players were drafted in to make up the numbers, needless to say the results did not improve. These unhappy events sparked the formation of the Northampton Town Supporters Trust, which has a share holding in the club and a representative on the Board of Directors.

Despite the warning bells from the previous season, when they avoided relegation on the last day, the Cobblers finished bottom of the Football League in 1993/94, the only time in the club's history that they had finished bottom of any division since joining the Football League. Relegation was only escaped due the Conference Champions, Kidderminster Harriers not meeting the necessary ground criteria.

Under Ian Atkins managership 1996/97 saw the Cobblers appear at Wembley for the first time in 100 years, beating Swansea City 1-0 in the play-off final. 1997/98 again saw a Wembley appearance, this time in the Division Two play-off final, which was lost 1-0 to third placed Grimsby Town.

1998/99 was a season littered with injury problems, no fewer than 16 players suffered from long-term injuries, which completely decimated the squad from start to finish. On the final day of the season the Cobblers were relegated to Division Three, despite being undefeated in the last 9 games of the season.

1999/2000 season saw the club bounce back to Division Two, finishing third and holding the third automatic spot for promotion, a run of 6 consecutive wins in the final 6 matches made outright promotion possible.

The Cobblers made a good start to life in Division Two and flirted with the play off's during the early part of the campaign before slipping away to finish a disappointing 18th. A series of injuries after Christmas depriving the club of a number of the senior players stretching the already paper thin squad. Two more seasons of struggle and once again Town were back to the basement Division after finishing bottom of Division Two in 2002/03.

In the two seasons following the Cobblers made the Play Offs but were unsuccessful, under finally in 2005/06 they finished second just 3 points behind Champions Carlisle United. Last season saw a 14th place finish.

As members of the old Third Division (South) Rovers have a long tradition of games against the Cobblers. There have been some stirring games but perhaps none bring such painful memories than the Cobblers' 1997/98 Play-off Semi-Final victory.

In the first meeting between the clubs in 1907/08 season Rovers ran out 1-0 winners at the County Ground on 11 January 1908. In the first four post-World War II meetings between the teams the away team won the lot! As mentioned before Rovers have yet to record a win at Sixfields (if we don't count a penalty shoot-out win in an AWS game), their last visit to the County Ground was back in 1989/90 season when a dramatic late long-range strike by Ian Holloway gave Rovers a 2-1 victory.

That 1989/90 season probably summed up the difference between a winning and losing team. In the game at Twerton Park on 29th October 1989, Bobby Brown was running the Rovers defence ragged and the undefeated home record looked in danger. Goals by Devon White and Paul Nixon had the game tied at 2-2.

Late in the game Devon White was controversially brought down in the box and Holloway converted the penalty to give the Gas an unlikely lead. Then with the seconds ticking away an unlucky Trevor Quow guided a clearance into his own net to give the final score of 4-2. So it was all 6 points to Rovers largely due to their 'never say die' spirit.

The previous time Rovers had 'done the double' over the Cobblers was back in 1967/68 season. Two goals in the home game by Stuart Taylor secured the points at Eastville. However it was the game at the County Ground that had been so remarkable.

Rovers' away record was nothing to shout about, of their first 7 away games they had won 1 drawn 2 and lost 4, the Cobblers had won 5 of their previous 6 games. Converted Left Half (Remember them? They used to wear number 6) Ray Mabbutt had a field day in the County Ground mud.

Frank Large gave the home team an early lead but Rovers were quickly level when a Johnny Williams pile driver was parried by Harvey straight to Mabbutt, who stabbed the ball home. Soon after Large was brought down in the box and Mackin scored from the spot. It fell to Bobby Jones scoring against his old club to restore Rovers to parity.

A 30-yard shot from Johnny Williams gave Rovers a 3-2 lead but that man Large made sure things were all square by half time. It was some while into the second-half before the goals started to roll in again, Mabbutt accepting a simple tap in before Large scored the Cobblers fourth goal and completed his hat trick. Not to be outdone Mabbutt scored once more to complete the only hat trick of his career and to give Rovers an incredible 5-4 away win

It's the recent past that has proved so painful for the GasHeads. In the 1997/98 Play-Off Semi-Finals, having secured a 3-1 home win many Rovers fans were already booking tickets for Wembley. However the Cobblers thought (quite rightly, as it turned out) that their away goal, scored late in the game, would be crucial. So it turned out to be, the 3-0 reverse at Sixfields was stunning.

The Cobblers have won 4, drawn 1 and lost tow of their home league games so far this season. Their latest game saw Southend stretch their unbeaten away run to five matches thanks to former Gas hero Adam Barrett's solitary strike. The only goal arrived in the 65th minute when Mark Gower's corner was met by Barrett's head at the far post after the centre-back made a well-timed run.

Andy Kirk missed a 21st minute penalty for Northampton, rattling the post before putting the rebound wide. Southend keeper Steve Collis made a brilliant save from Bradley Johnson while Dan Jones hit the post.

Team news from Sixfields reveals that contract extensions have been made to defender Liam Dolman and teenage midfielder Alex Dyer. Dolman, 20, was due to have his current deal expire at the end of December, but he has now signed a deal keeping him at Sixfields until the summer of 2009. Dyer, 17, has had his scholarship upgraded to a professional contract and is also now contracted until 2009.

The Cobbler's Andy Kirk is the division's top goal scorer with nine strikes in all competitions and is the obvious danger man. Forward Colin Larkin warned Southend United, before Saturday's defeat that the Cobblers feel 'unbeatable' at home. Town had lost just once at Sixfields this season, and had beaten the last four teams to visit there. It was a run of results that had seen the confidence in the Cobblers camp go through the roof.

Paul Trollope will be hoping that this nightmare run of form ends very soon and where better than at Northampton?

Written by Gerry Prewett