KEY DETAILS
Who? Northampton Town
Where? The People’s Pension Stadium
When? Saturday, August 28, 3pm kick-off
Sky Bet League Two Match Four
Turnstiles open at 2pm, Redz Bar will open from 11am.
Tomorrow’s match sponsors are Ryan Canter Club
ONES TO WATCH
Liam Roberts
Age: 26
Position: Goalkeeper
Liam Roberts has played against Crawley Town in each of their last five fixtures against Walsall FC, dating back to August 2019. Roberts had been with the Saddlers his entire career until his transfer to Northampton Town in July this year and, as an experienced footballer, has claimed the number one shirt at the Cobblers. A product of Walsall’s academy, Roberts has been out on loan three times since he graduated to the first team in 2013, to non-league Rushall Olympic, Southport and Chester. Roberts has made 168 career appearances and has kept 44 clean sheets, an impressive 26.2% success rate.
Joseph Mills
Age: 31
Position: Left-back
Joseph Mills captains the Cobblers, a familiar responsibility for the Englishman who captained Forest Green Rovers during his two seasons at The New Lawn. He made 70 appearances for Rovers – netting 12 times – before his move to Northampton Town in the summer of 2020. Mills began his career with Southampton where he stayed until he was 21 and he moved to Reading. After a brief stint in Berkshire, Mills moved to Burnley and was sent back to Reading on loan before spells at Oldham Athletic and Shrewsbury. Oldham bought him in 2014 but he was on the move again just two years later, this time travelling down under to Perth Glory where he made 44 appearances in two years and relocated back to England in 2018 with Forest Green Rovers. Mills made 27 appearances for the Cobblers last term, picking up one assist throughout their difficult campaign.
Sam Hoskins
Age: 28
Position: Right-winger
Sam Hoskins finished as Northampton’s second highest goal scorer – one behind now Tranmere Rovers striker Ryan Watson – and recorded the greatest number of assists in the Cobblers’ camp last season. His seven goals and four assists in League One make him Northampton Town’s most established threat who is likely to play today. He also began his career with Southampton where he went out on loan to Preston North End, Rotherham United and Stevenage before joining Yeovil Town in 2013. He went on loan to Barnet, briefly, before Northampton bought him in 2015. Now entering his sixth season with the Cobblers, Hoskins has made 248 appearances, scoring 41 goals and assisting 28 others.
VISITOR FORM GUIDE
Northampton have had a decent start to the season, winning three out of five in all competitions. The Cobblers won their first three competitive games of the 2021/22 campaign, defeating promotion hopefuls Port Vale 1-0 on the opening day, before travelling to Championship side Coventry City in the Carabao Cup and coming back from a one-goal deficit to pick up an impressive 1-2 away win to progress into the second round.
Since this impressive triumph, Northampton have lost two from two, hosting winless Rochdale last Saturday and losing out 1-3 at Sixfields. The Cobblers battled hard against League One Wimbledon on Tuesday night in the Carabao Cup Second Round but lost out by a single goal scored by Wimbledon’s Anthony Hartigan in the 94th minute.
HEAD TO HEAD
Since 2015, Crawley have faced the Cobblers on six occasions, with Crawley undefeated in their last three meetings in League Two competition, having lost the three games previous to this between 2015 and 2018.
Our last meeting was a famous one at The People’s Pension Stadium when he hosted Northampton on Boxing Day of 2019 in a fixture that was very close to being called off due to the water on the pitch.
The game ended in a rampant home victory as the Reds ran riot from the first whistle, scoring the opener on 27 minutes when Lewis Young set up Nathan Ferguson. The second-half was when all our efforts really came into fruition as Bez Lubala added a second after the hour mark before Ollie Palmer and Mason Bloomfield scored the third and fourth goals within the last ten minutes of the game. A special Boxing Day performance.
In our previous meeting before the thrashing there was more drama that unfolded. The Cobblers looked strong at Sixfields and took a two goal lead after the hour mark, having also missed a penalty early in the second half. But Crawley showed their character and were able to pull a goal back through a special strike from substitute Ashley Nathaniel-George on 70 minutes.
Crawley worked and worked before finally finding some fortune when Josh Doherty dashed forward in the 95th minute, in what was our last attack, tapping towards goal as the ball was deflected past the goalkeeper by defender Joe Martin. The travelling Crawley fans erupted as a late point was salvaged dramatically.
