Brighton and Hove Albion (H) Preview...

Next up for the Cobblers is a huge home game with Brighton, who sit just one place above us in the table.

The general view is that whoever comes out of the game on top will just about book their place in League One for next season with only six games to play after this.

Back in October, we suffered extortionate ticket prices, an open air stand, a view that needed binoculars and a game that was more shocking than all the rest put together! James Quinn's late strike gave us a point from what was probably the worst game of the season in a 1-1 draw at the Withdean Stadium.

But now it's all about survival and making the gap between ourselves and the bottom four even greater than the eight points as it stands. Stuart Gray will be looking to keep a similar team together as the one that started last week at Swansea while the visitors will be hoping for an improvement on last weekend's 0-0 draw with Huddersfield Town.

No Saints 0-5 Hendy Van and Truck

As the plucky No Saints suffered our latest defeat, we did feel a lot more like a team than in previous weeks. After last Thursday's drinks and a positive training session on Sunday afternoon, we headed into the game with a lot more confidence and slicker passing moves. Unfortunately, after a lucky opening goal, we couldn't break through and eventually crash to another defeat, leaving us still on zero points.

On Monday we face top of the table side "Fat and Weasy" but we should hold no fears. Every other team we've played have been hard and taking it seriously, forever moaning at team mates. But No Saints have the spirit (in Sean's case the sprit is Rum) and hopefully that will soon mean our first win.

On a good note, there were no own goals this week!

One Weekend in Wales...

Finally got around to posting this after a busy week but the following is my account of my time out weekend in South Wales last weekend. I was keeping a diary all weekend and it certainly helped to write down everything I took from the time....

Friday 23rd March

After a night out with the No Saints 5-a-side team on Thursday, I overslept and had to get the later train out of Southampton with a heavy head. The journey seemed to pass so much quicker than it should have done but it helped to be surrounded by the glorious scenery of South Wales. I arrived in my guest house after half an hour of wandering around trying to find it which I didn't mind too much with it being a beautiful day out. Port Talbot is a strange mix. On one side of the railway line is fantastic scenary and rolling hills while on the other sits a busy industrial estate.


Having finally found my guest house thanks to two very helpful ladies in "VideoWorld" I was greeted at the door by the American co-owner, Eli, and her two huge dogs who seemed to pay more attention to me than Eli did at first as she finished a phone call before greeting me. Eli was kind of creepy and unnerving at first, like one of those strange characters from an American horror movie! My room was basically their computer room and was decorated in Native American paraphanalia and lots of pictures of dogs on the wall. She even had a dog calender by the computer- the month of March being taken up by the 'curly girl' breed. The room also seemed to be Eli's clutter room because random CD's, books and an exercise bike were dotted about! One thing that was very welcome was the small treats laid on for me next to my bed- a Nutri Grain bar, Chocolate Tracker bar and a bottle of Evian!






After settling in, I headed out to search for a place to sit and relax, away from the hustle and bustle of town life, my main reason for this chill out weekend away. My first port of call was a nearby park, Talbot Memorial Park. It was a little smaller than I had in mind and I was put off by the chavs that were scattered about the disused bandstand, desperately trying to impress each other with 'wheelies' on their bikes and seemingly seeing who could shout the loudest while doing so!




Moving on, my journey took me into Port Talbot town centre which is basically one street with a Tesco's and a shopping centre at the end. I decided that a coffee was in order while I thought about what to do so I settled down to try and figure it out. Having planned to find a cool, refreshing place named Waterfall Country I finished up with the coffee and escaped the screaming town folk and kids just coming out of schools to try and chase those waterfalls. Unfortunately a man stopped me in my tracks and asked me to please stick to the rivers and the lakes that I'm used to.




My plans did change when I went outside and had a closer look at the mountains that surrounded Port Talbot. I noticed that there were houses built into the side of them and pathways that seemed to lead up the mountain face. It was staring me right in the face. I needed to get away from the commercialised rubbishness of the town centre and there was a mountain just waiting to be explored. So I did it. It started out as just a small walk up but as I went further and further up, my self-challenging nature set in.

"I can get to the top," said my brain.


" You're too tired," said my body.


Luckily my brain won that particular argument (they're always fighting, them two) and I reached the top. The views were absolutely stunning and I could literally see for miles, watching as the welsh townfolk went about their daily business from way up high and writing these words in utter peace. I imagined what I would be doing back at home at that point. Probably on msn, replying to e-mails, on facebook or myspace while rushing about trying to cook dinner. I sat there on the side of that mountain, watched the sun setting in the distance and listening to music from my ipod. The sun's position behind a cloud created a fantastic red shadow on the horizon and I felt like the king of the world. Finally I had found my space!

Back to civilisation and I soon realised that I would have been better off staying up the mountain. Random drunk man number one shouted a welsh insult at me while random drunk man number two sounded an air horn from a passing car. Back at the hotel I wondered if Port Talbot was really for me and at one point considered even moving to Swansea for the next night instead but I eventually realised it would take up a lot of precious random exploring time before the football so I thought one more night wouldn't kill me!

Saturday, March 24th

After being woken by the dogs early on Saturday morning, I was treated to a very nice breakfast and had my first proper chat with Eli. I realised during the chat that she wasn't as scary as she first looked and more of an eccentric than a creepy old lady, with a laugh for every tale she told, even those that weren't meant for humour. Eli was born in Long Island, New York and moved to Colorado for university and stayed there until meeting her partner and now guest house co-owner, Lisa, and moving to Wales. Eli said something that struck a nerve in my writing mind when talking about the type of people she meets while running the guest house...

"Everyone's a character in their own way," she said.

I thought at that point what a great venture it would be to open a guest house and to just write about every person that comes through the door, something I regularly do at work when thinking up characters for stories and scripts. I find the most fascinating characters are already with us and sometimes you don't need an awful lot of creativeness to make a character up-real life is a lot stranger than fiction!

Lisa and Eli were having an argument about the plumber and his lack of appearance that morning to I left them to it and headed for Swansea!

Arriving early for away games really is something that I should try more often. In this instance I was in Swansea by 10:30am and by simply wandering aimlessly I found a city with plenty of history and things to explore. I find that if you walk around somewhere for long enough, you'll eventually find something interesting! I finally managed to find a beach near Swansea's old Vetch Field ground and this gave me some more relflection time before I started to make the walk up to the new Liberty Stadium. I managed to take the scenic route to the ground round a country park and river and arrived in good time before the game.

For a full match report, see below post...

Sunday, March 25th

And so it was time to go home and back to Southampton life. Despite the defeat at the Liberty Stadium, I had a fantasticly random time and rediscovered my exploring side! I probably couldn't have stayed for much longer as I started to miss my life back home and the second family that I've formed in Southampton. This time out was much needed and I'll forever be reminded of the fantastic feeling when on top of that mountain by the songs that I listened to whilst up there. But I did begin to miss real life after a while and it was time to go back to my awesome group of friends that I have in the south of England and across the rest of the country. Friends that were so supportive of me going away and didn't quesiton it for a second. Friends that I know will be behind me whatever I decide to do from here and friends that as I said before are now people that I think of as family.

It's good to be home.

Swansea City 2-1 Northampton Town

The Cobblers came away from the Liberty Stadium empty handed after a goal either side of half time kept Swansea's playoff push rolling on.

I was in the middle of my weekender in Port Talbot and it was nice to be able to wake up and go to an away game that was just up the road from my lodgings! I had time to look around Swansea before hand and take a stroll along the beach where a Swans fan stopped me in my tracks and said something to me about the game but his thick accent drowned out any chance of a decent conversation between us. I just agreed with what he said and went on my merry way!


I decided to walk to the ground seeing as though I had time on my hands and found it easily, taking the scenic route through a field and down by the river, taking in the calm before my first game since Forest away last month. The new Liberty Stadium is impressive from the outside but seemed more compact than it looked once inside the 20,000 capacity stadium. There was never any chance of it matching the feel and atmosphere of the old Vetch Field and it was nowhere near as intimidating. On the pitch, Stuart Gray stuck to the same side that saw off Bradford last week and the Cobblers made the brighter start to the game. A free kick was won thirty yards from the home sides' goal and images of Wembley came flooding back!


It turned out to be an even better free kick than the one that beat Swansea ten years ago. Bradley Johnson curled a fantastic shot past the stranded Willy Gueret and into the top corner to give us a sixth minute lead and to hand Johnson his fourth goal of the season. Swansea replied but were frustrated by a stern Cobblers defence until Andy Robinson forced Mark Bunn into a fine save with a curling effort mid-way through the half. Referee Keith Stroud decided to add on three minutes at the end of the first half and that proved crucial as the equaliser came with the last kick of the half. The ball fell to giant defender Dennis Lawrence on the edge of the area and his powerful effort beat Bunn down to his right.


Frustrated at half time we headed for a quick drink in the bar behind the stand, where they were showing the game live on the TV screens. We weren't the only Town fans who had to witness the third goal of the game on the TV's rather than in the ground! A flowing move by the home side ended with Robinson smashing the ball home at the far post before half the Cobblers fans had taken their seats! In fact, I bet a few people didn't see either Swansea goals go in!From then on, we struggled to get back into the game and Stuart Gray gambled by bringing on new boy Simon Cox for his debut for Jason Crowe and switching to 4-3-3. It was refreshing to see a Cobblers manager going for it after too many years of watching us settle for single goal defeats. Cox's first touch was a golden opportunity to pull us level.


Gueret looked stranded as the ball flashed past him and all that Cox seemingly had to do was poke the ball over the line but a defender got in the way to somehow deflect the ball over the bar. Swansea threatened on the break and the impressive Leon Britton and Andy Robinson were stretching us on the counter attack, with makeshift right back Alex Pearce struggling to come to terms with his new position.


The home side looked the most likely to add to their score and only a brilliant last ditch tackle from Chris Doig prevented Darryl Duffy from scoring on his debut.There was no way back for the Cobblers though and it was a disappointing way to lose out after a game that started so brightly. But once again the class and power of a team challenging for promotion was too much for us and we can see how far we have to go to be able to be at the right end of the table ourselves.


The good news is that with other teams below us not picking up points we stay eight points clear of the relegation zone and as long as that remains the case for the rest of the season I'll be happy!Winning next weekend's Sixfields clash with Brighton will go a long way to seeing us to safety…I just hope it's a better game than the dire one on the south coast back in October!

Swansea City (a) Preview...

The Cobblers are all set for their second away game in succession with Saturday's trip to Swansea looming.

With the Town on an excellent run of form with four wins from the last five games we have nothing to fear against the playoff chasing Swans.

But the home side will be looking to continue their own mini revival under new boss Roberto Martinez as they lie just one point below the playoffs going into Saturday's game.

Swansea have completed the loan signing of Hull City striker Darryl Duffy and he will be available for the Cobblers' visit to the new Liberty Stadium. Kristian O'Leary should return after missing last Friday's win over Chesterfield while Duffy could replace the suspended Lee Trundle in attack, partnering the dangerous Pawell Abott.

For the Cobblers, Stuart Gray awaits the clearing of striker Simon Cox before handing the Reading loanee a place in the squad but other than that it looks like being an unchanged side from the one that came from behind to beat Bradford City last weekend.

While it'll be good to get a new ground under my belt, it's doubtful whether the atmosphere could possibly match that of the old Vetch Field, one of the most passionate and intimidating ground I have visited. The welsh fans usually give us a nice "welcome" though so it promises to be a good day out in the middle of my weekender in South Wales!

Cobblers fans are reminded that the game is ALL TICKET and fans must purchase tickets before 4pm on Friday to ensure entry to the game.

Two out, one in for Town on Loan Deadline Day!

The Cobblers have had a busy day today as the loan transfer window closed.

Out goes James Quinn in a bizarre move to League One leaders Scunthorpe United. Yesterday, Quinn was named in the Northern Ireland squad for the upcoming European Championship qualifiers and today he heads north to join the front runners of the league. Why on earth Scunny are taking a man who struggles to get into our reserve team on loan will be a question on many fans lips this evening!

Jerome Watt has also gone out for his second loan spell of the season as he joins Salisbury City. Watt, who was previously on loan at Morecombe, joins the Conference South promotion hopefuls for a month.

Meanwhile, heading into Sixfields is 19-year-old striker Simon Cox on a month long loan from Reading. Stuart Gray swooped for the Royal's man, who can also play in midfield, after letting Quinn go out to Scunthorpe this morning. If he's anything as good as fellow Reading loanee Alex Pearce, he'll be most welcome and should provide good competition for forward places as the season draws to a close.

And so it goes on...

...after yesterday's e-mails from the council, I received another one this morning...

Dear Mr Brothers

I have received your email from Gateway. We do have a sponsored tree scheme however we do not name the tree. A tree can be sponsored for a fee and a certificate is issued to commemorate the planting.

My colleague at Gateway has also forwarded the email to Highways, they may be able to assist with your interesting task!

Interesting task aye? I'm assuming that "Highways" are the people that contacted me yesterday. Tree sponsering doesn't count in the bet, by the way, so this wasn't a great deal of help either....

The great name game 2007...an update

A while ago I told of a wager I have on with Jamie whereby I have until the end of 2007 to get something named after me. Well in the bet, Jamie stated that the "rules" included a council approval of such act.

So I've got the ball rolling by contacting Southampton County Council with this e-mail:

Hell there...

My name is Danny Brothers and fear not...this isn't one of those spam e-mails that tries to get bank deatails from you so please keep reading.

Thanks...

The main reason for my e-mail is a pretty strange one but one which I hope you can help with. Recently, on a visit to St. Catherine's Hill in Winchester I had an idea. I thought that if St Catherine can have a hill named after her, why can't I get something named after me?

I ran this by my friends and though most were supportive of my plan, they mostly seemed doubtful that I could pull off this task. Anyway, one of my friends was so doubtful that he put a wager up saying that I couldn't do it and I accepted the challenge.

You are the first people that I'm contacting as I believe you may be able to point me in the right direction. So it would be great if you could let me know any information on how I can get something named after me or what I have to do to get this honour?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Danny

I've just realised that they may have been put off by the slightly strange greeting of "hell there" but just seconds later I received this reply:

Dear Danny,

Thank you for your e-mail.I am not sure who I need to pass this onto at the moment, but I will dosome investigting and I will pas this e-mail onto the relevevant department for you.

Thank you

OK so it's not the greatest response and as Jamie pointed out upon my excited e-mail to him at work, this is an autmated response from the council when trying to delay things. But at around 4:30pm this afternoon came some response from a man named Roger Moritmer:

Dear Mr Brothers

Thanks for your enquiry. To get anything named after you, as a general rule you have to be both dead and distinguished, although if you are very distinguished indeed and not in a position to foul anything up, it may be OK to be still alive.

You may feel that's not a price worth paying. In that case, I'm not sure where you're based, but it may be worth considering a move to somewhere like Blackburn, where you will find they have already done the job for you. See the following link:-

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=brothers+street+blackburn&sll=53.098145,-2.443696&sspn=6.441601,14.80957&layer=&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=15&ll=53.732593,-2.510419&spn=0.012389,0.043001&iwloc=addr

Regards, Roger Mortimer

Right...so if I'm very distinguished indeed, it MAY be OK to be alive, otherwise my only options are to move to Blackburn or to die. Which one of those would be the most painful is still a question that needs answering but neither appeals to me at this moment in time.

I do, however, thank Mr Mortimer for his time and I think it's brilliant that I've been able to make someone from the council use up some of his work day trying to please me by finding a street with my name on!

What did also amuse me is that on the final e-mail, I could see where the other councilers had passed the query on to Mr Mortimer...the first was from Lauren on behalf of one part of the council called Gateway:

Hi

I am wondering wether this would be of any intrest to you.

This gentleman wants to get something named after him and Im not really sure what you can have named after you other than a tree or a road or something.

Could you cc us in on the reply.

Thank you

Here, Lauren was forwarding my query onto non other than the Highways department! No luck there obviously, as she passed it on to Jenny Browning who wasn't too helpful either..Miss Browning sent this to good old Roger...

Could you help with this one please? Thanks.

Obviously she was busy today and not in the mood for a silly project such as this. So Mr Mortimer try as he might still couldn't find a solution that played by Jamie's rules so the challenge goes on. I think death is a little bit extreme just to win £20 to be honest so I will continue to look for another way around this...stay tuned...

No Saints 4-12 B&Q F.C.

Our latest efforts in 5-a-side led to the No Saints consolidating our position at the foot of the JDFives League Three.

Let us get this out the way straight away...yes I scored two own goals...no more needs to be said about that but I'm sure it will be...for a very long time by my fellow team-mates and fans alike! That's three own goals in two games but I did salvage something by scoring twice at the right end of the pitch as we stormed into an early 2-0 lead.

B and Q came back strong though and powered into a half-time lead. A brief route back into the game was thwarted and our latest opposition ran riot late on.

The 5-a-side thing is becoming a very welcome addition to my week and although we're losing and bottom of the table, I would much rather be in a team liek we have and be enjoying the games rather than be a part of of opponents tonight who were still getting riled even at 12-4 ahead. A post match beverage was well attended and with a bit more training I think we can maybe get some results on the board in the coming weeks.

Just keep me informed on which way we're shooting!

Bradford City 1-2 Northampton Town

Kenny Deuchar struck the winner at Bradford this afternoon to send the Cobblers eight points clear of the League One drop zone. The good doctor notched his third goal for the club with five minutes to go to bag three crucial points in the Town's survival bid.


Stuart Gray made two changes from the side that defeat Bournemouth last week, bringing in Ryan Gilligan for Sam Aiston while David Hunt started in front of Ian Taylor.The Cobblers had the first effort of the game after just 90 seconds when Jason Crowe's long-range effort sailed wide of the target. There were no real openings in the early exchanges as both sides remained cautious. The biggest cheer of the first half hour in fact came when the Bantams (what on earth is a Bantam anyway?) fans heard of Leeds United going a goal down at Southend!


The Cobblers pressed a little more as half time approached and Kenny Deuchar was foiled by Donovan Ricketts in the Bradford goal before David Hunt volleyed wide but all in all the first half was a pretty uninspiring spectacle. The second half, though, burst into life as Jordan Robertson had an early header saved by Ricketts while at the other end, Bradford had a penalty appeal turned down when Moses Ashikodi went down under a challenge from Mark Hughes.


Ten minutes into the second half, Jordan Robertson had two chances in quick succession to give the Cobblers the lead. First, his glancing header was saved well before a glaring miss from just a few yards out kept the game at 0-0.The breakthrough was just around the corner but unfortunately it came at the other end of the pitch with a rare error from Cobblers keeper Mark Bunn. A corner from Marc Bridge-Wilkinson led to hesitation from the young stopper and Billy Paynter headed the ball over him to score for the home side.


The Cobblers would soon be level though and a couple of minutes after Paynter's strike, Bradley Johnson's deflected shot brought the teams level. A quiet period of play followed with neither side willing to go for the winner until Kenny Deuchar sparked scenes of wild celebration in my small room in Southampton by converting Ryan Gilligan's cross and to seal a massive win for the Cobblers!


Andy Kirk could have made it three late on but Deuchar's goal was enough to hand us three huge points and steer us up to 15th in League One.With other sides outside the bottom four also winning, it was an even bigger victory and we should surely have enough now to keep ourselves afloat for another season.


Stuart Gray's side are now just two points off the top half in fact…I'm starting to get a nosebleed!

Bradford City v Northampton Town - The Line Ups...

Bradford Ricketts, Parker, Weatherall, Bower, Schumacher, Bridge-Wilkinson, Bentham, Colbeck, Paynter, Youga, Ashikodi

Subs: Johnson, Howarth, Daley, Ainge, Barrau

Cobblers Bunn, Crowe, Pearce, Hughes, Doig, Holt, Hunt, Brad Johnson, Gilligan, Deuchar, Robertson

Subs: Dunn, Dyche, Aiston, Taylor, Kirk

Rivals come a calling!

Today I got a nice surprise when my application to become Northampton Town editor on the website Rivals.net was successful!

That means I'll be able to get match reports, articles and other bits and bobs published and even get paid for it! Finally I can say that I'm earning something for doing what I love to do and although it's only a part time position, it's still a step in the right direction!

I'll continue to post everything as usual on here so please stick around but also visit my newest home in my evergrowing internet estate at:

http://northamptontown.rivals.net/

Bradford City (a) Preview...

The Cobblers travel to Bradford tomorrow for a real six pointer in the race to stay in League One. Stuart Gray is expected to name an unchanged side for the trip to Yorkshire but Pedj Bojic and Joe Burnell are on the comeback trail after appearing for the reserves in midweek.

The next in a long line of recent relegation battles, the Cobblers will need to be on top of their game to see off a Bradford side rejuvinated by the shock mid-week win at promotion chasing Bristol City. The Bantams have taken Moses Ashikodi on loan from Watford and he should start alongside fellow loanee striker Billy Paynter. Both scored in the Ashton Gate victory and will test the resolve of the Cobblers' stern defensive line.

Both sides will be relieved that Chesterfield have already lost out on the chance to gain some ground on the rest of the relegation candidates after defeat at Swansea tonight leaves them in the bottom four.

The Cobblers are still six points clear of the relagation zone but anyone can still be dragged into a late relegation dog fight and any Cobblers fan will tell you that you can take nothing for granted when it comes to our club!

Searching for something new...

Recently I've been going over in my head where I am in life and my mind's been working overtime trying to figure out where I want to go from here. Most of these thoughts take place from the confines of my dull office workplace. Going over figures and making spreadsheets isn't really where I saw myself this far after uni life and as the company keeps extending my contract I continue to get more and more frustrated at day to day life and not being able to do what I want.

So I've decided to do something about it rather than wasting my life away. What exactly I'm going to do remains a question to be answered but what I have decided is that it's time to make up my mind and take control of the future. Southampton life, evenings and weekends are superb and the best I've ever had it. I have the best group of friends I could ever have imagined and have a better social life now than ever before.

But sometimes I feel the need to take some time out, to escape for a while to think about things. In the past I would just be happy with my room or some alone time in a park but I think sometimes I need to be somewhere else. And it so I came to booking up a cheap weekend in South Wales for next weekend.

The Cobblers travel to Swansea and so I thought up the plan of staying in nearby Port Talbot, taking the Friday off work and letting my mind do its work in a completely new and unexplored place. Going away alone is something I've never been brave enough to do but it's all the head, all about how you think other people will think of you if you do it. But I feel I'm at a point where I can do that right now so it's time to pack my things and head for some alone time in Wales. Also, I can take Saturday to go to the Swansea game, meet up with friends, watch the game and then go back to Port Talbot and my own little world!

All that's been booked up now and I'm looking forward to the freedom of it all, trying to get my head sorted and then coming back to my awesome group of people in Southampton!

No Saints...up and running!

Yes, the 5-a-side idea has taken off and our team, the No Saints (name coming about because none of us support, or are from, Southampton) have began their quest for glory. Having registered just too late for the league we "lost" our first game without playing it but tonight, fresh with new kits including names and numbers on the back, we actually played our first game...

No Saints 4-9 Southampton Allstars

After going 4-0 down with the first ten minutes (20 mins per half) the No Saints made a glorious recovery to bring it back to 4-4 but ran out of steam late and. Despite a gutsy performance we were eventually beaten by 9 goals to 4.

Personally I really need to work on fitness (think I went in a bit too much in the first 5 minutes!) but that will come with time and overall it was a game played in goof spirit and made us all want more of the action.

So in a league of 9 teams we still have plenty of time to pull ourselves up the table!

Northampton Town 3-1 AFC Bournemouth

The Cobblers overcame the Cherries in the vital clash at Sixfields this afternoon. Jordan Robertson gave us the lead with a "Thierry Henry style" volley (according to the commentary team) before Bournemouth's change of tactics at half time had an immediate impact as Marc Wilson fired them level.

The visitors seemed to be getting right back into the game and threatened an equiliser before Kenny Deuchar headed home Andy Holt's left wing cross to give the Cobblers the lead once again. Andy Kirk scored from close range late on to make it 3-1 and three precious points for Northampton Town.

We now stand seven points clear of the bottom four with games fast running out. Next weekend we travel to fourth-bottom Bradford City and what could have been a nervy encounter now turns into a less pressured one for us at least. Hopefully we're starting to move in the right direction and seven points at this stage of the season is a massive gap to have. Of course it is the Cobblers and anything can go wrong but at the moment we're keeping our heads just above water and a couple more wins will see another season of League One football at Sixfields next season.

Northampton Town v AFC Bournemouth- The Line-Ups

Cobblers Bunn, Crowe, Hughes, Pearce, Doig, Holt, Taylor, Aiston, Brad Johnson, Deuchar, Robertson

Subs: Dunn, Jess, Kirk, Hunt, Gilligan

Bournemouth Moss, Young, Purches, Broadhurst, Cooper, McGoldrick, Hollands, Hayter, Gowling, Cummings, Wilson

Subs: Fletcher, Stewart, Pitman, Standing, Walker

AFC Bournemouth (H) Preview

The Cobblers enetertain Bournemouth tomorrow afternoon in a massive six pointer at the bottom of League One. The Cherries held us in an entertaining 0-0 draw at Dean Court back in October and tomorrow's game should be just as tight as both sides look for vital points to keep them above the drop zone.

Darren Anderton is likely to miss out for the visitors while the Town have a near full strength squad to choose from.

Alex Pearce has extended his loan spell until the end of the season and will be available for selection while Kenny Deuchar, Jordan Robertson and Andy Kirk will once again compete for two forward positions.

Pearce stays at Town

Alex Pearce will remain at the Cobblers until the end of the season following today's extension of his loan deal. Reading have a 34 hour recall clause on the 18-year-old but this is a massive boost for the Town ahead of the run-in and fight for survival.

Pearce has been superb at the back for us ever since the move from the Royals a month ago and his partnership with Mark Hughes has helped us to pick up a couple of important clean sheets.

Northampton welcomes those from the Southern Extremitites!

As the Cobblers were being beaten in Bristol, me and four of my great friends from Southampton were slowly headed up to Northampton on the latest of our many road trips. The occasion this time was my Dad's 50th birthday party and the guest list included Dave, Marti, Jamie and Annamaria so it was a grand excuse for a random trip!

We set out early and planned a couple of stops en route, firstly stopping to visit Marti's lovely parents who provided us with juice and biscuits and then heading into Newbury to sample "Rio's", one of the best burger venues you're likely to visit. That feed filled us up and we were off on our merry way, only stopping to admire some quite bizarre graffiti in the car park. Someone had scrawled the insult of "Cake Unit" on another person's car...an insult that we repeated throughout the journey!

Time in the car was spent playing the "Mini and Yellow Car game", where if you spot a Mini or a yellow car (moving on the road, parked doesn't count) you shout it out and the last person to shout it gets a punch from all the others...it's great fun, you should try it...just don't punch the driver too hard, Marti nearly ran over a puppy after Dave cleverly spotted a passing yellow mini near the lift tower.

As soon as we arrived in Northampton the heavens opened, much like the ill fated trip to the Cobblers' home game with Millwall (the first one) back in December. After a quick tea and cakes at my parent's house we headed to the hotel. Yes, although I am from Northampton, my parent's bungalow was full for the night so I was having to go to a hotel too! But it was a lot of fun and the hotel was cool, including the obligatory tea and coffee making facilities so we were happy.

The party began at 7pm and we found a table near the dance floor and the rest of the night was spent dancing, eating food from the brilliant buffet and chatting to people I hadn't seen for quite a long time. Marti had the idea to order tequila shots and after that all I remember was dancing badly and the "Ooops upside your head" rowing dance! We did also get a call from Ti to remind us that there was an eclipse on that night so we left my family very confused by rushing outside at 10pm to look into the sky and see the red moon!

Overall a top night was had, rounded off by tea in my room and me falling off the bed to comedic effect. For a better view of what went on, take a look at Jamie's video diary that he's placed on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw0MWas0dcU

These road trips are getting more and more frequent and it's fantastic to be packing up and getting away with my best friends all the time. I was at first scared of the post-university life, wondering whether things would ever be the same again but I'm pretty sure they're even better now!

Good times!

Bristol City 1-0 Northampton Town

Kevin Betsy's goal was enough to beat the Town on Saturday afternoon and keep us looking over our shoulder at the teams below us in the relegation fight. Luckily, other results went pretty well and we stay 4 points clear of the dreaded drop.

It was an expected defeat but it also puts extra importance on next Saturday's six pointer at home to fellow strugglers Bournemouth. We outplayed the Cherries in the entertaining 0-0 draw at Dean Court in October but they'll be fighting for their lives as well so it promises to be a good one!

Bristol City (a) preview

The Cobblers take their campaign to Ashton Gate tomorrow afternoon in a tough looking fixture.

City will be wanting to get back on track after a disappointing derby defeat to Rovers in mid-week in the LDV Vans Autoglass repair Autoglass Replace Windscreens 7-Up Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Citylie in 4th place in League One with a game in hand so their latest promotion push is well on track before our visit.

The Cobblers, though, are in a decent run of form again, taking 7 points from the last three games and will be hoping to keep the run going in the bid to survive.

Not many changes to last weekend's winning team are expected to be made to the side but it promises to be a very difficult afternoon. Anything we take from the game will be a bonus so there should be no fear!

A playing return?

Once again my updates have been rubbish and I havn't had time to sit down and write properly on here for a while but I hope my short updates have been suffient!

My organising skills have been in full use recently as my footballing career may be about to return. A local 5-a-side league is starting in a few weeks and after gathering together three of my trusted Media Writing friends in Jamie, Dave and Rich, we needed to advertise for more players. 4 players in a 5-a-side team wouldn't give us the best of starts seeing as though none of us are any good in the first place. But a couple of responses later and t looks like we've sorted a team out. The first meet up is on Tuesday and this blog will keep you informed of our progress or lack of it!

In other news, we made the short trip to Brighton last weekend for a rain drenched but pretty good night out. It's always nice to wake up somewhere different and go for a stroll along the beach on a Saturday morning rather than being subjected to the chavs of Shirley High Street.

It's my Dad's 50th party tomorrow. By that I mean it's his 50th Birthday party, I don't mean he's already had 49 different parties thrown in his honour already. Anyway, most of the Southampton gang are making the trip after his kind invite. I will though have to stay in a hotel with them instead of sleeping at my parents' crowded bungalow! Of all the places I thought I would need a hotel!