When Rovers won their league game at Sixfields back on 6th November with a 70th minute Rickie Lambert goal it ended a barren spell for Rovers for two reasons.

Firstly they had never won at Sixfields in a League game and secondly it ended a winless run had gone into double figures. With nine of those games in the League the Gas picked up just 4 points from the 27 on offer, a 15% return, which saw them tumble from 6th place when they last tasted victory (at Luton in early September) until they found themselves in 19th place.

Having now suffered back to back defeats for the first time since early November Paul Trollope will look to take the heartache of the West Bromwich Albion result out on Northampton Town a club that he knows very well, having played for them 99 times in just over two years.. "We did fantastically well to get this far, and you have to remind the players of that because they are bitterly disappointed to miss out on a semi-final spot.

"We are a bit down but we will bounce back because we have a couple of big games this week against Northampton and Cheltenham. We need to keep up our good run in the league. We have a few games in hand and if we can get a good return from them then we know we will be right back in there with a shout of the play-offs, which is still the target this season.

"We won't let this affect our league form. I am sure the players won't let it because they have shown a great spirit and attitude so far this 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.

Results in the West Country generally favour Rovers with 16 victories and 12 defeats in the 41 games played. The last of these was a rare 0-0 draw on Friday 7th October 2005.

The Cobblers currently have excellent away form with 3 victories, 1 draw and 2 defeats in their last six games. Rovers' home form is exactly the same but of course they have lost their last two home games.

Team news from Sixfields reveals that Adebayo Akinfenwa is confident he will lead the Cobblers on Wednesday despite having played with knee ligament damage for the past month. Akinfenwa is confident he will feature in the game, especially after he was withdrawn at Walsall as a precautionary measure by manager Stuart Gray.

"I've damaged the ligaments in my knee," said Akinfenwa. "I picked it up in the Gillingham game and it's been stopping and starting ever since. I think the Gaffer just took me off as a precaution. I was happy to stay on to see if I could get my hat-trick.

"The manager knows best, though, and I think he wants to keep me wrapped in cotton wool for the next game. It's been there (the injury) for a couple of weeks and it hasn't stopped me so far. I'm playing games and getting through games and hopefully it won't stop me playing at Bristol Rovers."

Akinfenwa drew praise for his latest exploits from his manager, who has been understandably delighted with the player he picked up for nothing two months ago. "His two goals on Saturday were excellent," said Gray. "Bayo is the first to admit he's a long way from full fitness. But he's looking stronger in every game and if you get a bit of quality into him, he will score goals."

Cobblers Boss Stuart Gray praised his side for beating Walsall and told his players to go and do it again at the Mem. The Town manager has brought the club to within four points of the play-offs following Saturday's 2-0 triumph. Now they face difficult-looking games against Rovers, Swansea, Nottingham Forest and Carlisle.

Gray was delighted his team had finally beaten Walsall - at the fourth time of asking in the current season. But he concedes bigger tests lie ahead, and he feels they will shape the club's destiny this year. "Before Saturday's game I said the acid test would be these games against the top sides in the division," he said. "We've just beaten one of them and now we look at the Bristol Rovers game.

"After that we're testing ourselves against the best in the division, the Carlisles, the Swanseas and the Forests. The next four or five games will actually dictate where we are. I've told the players they've got to enjoy these games.

"They've got to enjoy going to Walsall and getting a result. We're just clawing ourselves a little bit closer to the play-off places," said Gray. "But the challenge now to the players is to go to Bristol Rovers and get a result.

"That will be a tough game and the pitch won't be good but we'll try to get it down and play and I will pick a team to win the match."

Meanwhile Paul Trollope will be anxious to lift his players and maybe the best way to do this would be to look at their actual performance in Sunday's defeat. Whilst the score looks pretty damning, Rovers were never over-run and always took the game up to their higher placed opposition. He might also point out that with four games in hand over most of the teams in the Division, maximum points would lift them into a play-off position.

Written by Gerry Prewett