As we await the announcement of the new seasons' fixtures this morning it's time to move on to February in our season review, another decent month in the recovery of the 2009/10 season.
John Johnson kicked things off in February by scoring a brilliantly taken solo goal at Dagenham and Redbridge to keep our fine run of away form going - that was the fourth victory on the road in succession.
Victories at Sixfields had been a little more difficult to find in 2010 but when Accrington paid a visit there was nothing holding the Cobblers back. Adebayo Akinfenwa opened the scoring before a second half double from Billy McKay made the game safe. Luke Guttridge got on the end of Dean Beckwith's free kick to put the icing on the cake of a terrific 4-0 win.
Then came the first major six pointer of the season at home to Aldershot. Kevin Thornton had just signed a deal until the end of the season and was keen to get into the action. He did just that but certainly not how we'd hoped - Thornton was sent off after ten minutes and Aldershot's Marvin Morgan scored from the resulting free kick! Kirk Hudson struck a second for the Shots with twenty minutes to go and Morgan put some gloss on the score with his second five minutes later to condemn the Cobblers to a first defeat of 2010.
It looked like we'd bounced straight back a week later at Crewe when Akinfenwa replied to Ashley Westwood's early goal for the hosts by turning the back back in our favour at 2-1. But in one of the key ten minute periods of the season, the Alex proceeded to lift themselves and turn the game again in their favour. Westwood equalised and Simon Walton volleyed the winner. Courtney Herbert thought he'd rescued a point late on with a cross shot that the Town players thought had crossed the line but nothing was given and it was another frustrating result.
A Tuesday night at Hereford wasn't too appealing after two straight defeats but the Cobblers recorded and important 2-0 win at Edgar Street, matching the result from the previous season's fixture. McKay and Akinfenwa were the scorers on this occasion and we were back on track.
The month ended with a home game against struggling Cheltenham Town and after Marley Watkins equalised Akinfenwa's goal with a little over ten minutes to go it looked like the points would be shared. But Seb Harris came off the bench to head home his first senior goal and celebrate wildly as we marched on once more.
With two and a bit months to go, the Cobblers had remarkably entered into the playoff race and were eighth at the end of February. Plenty of games in hand were still to be played but the race was well and truly on!
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