Cobblers v Barnsley at home Saturday 11.01.25

[GrangeParkCobbler]

The Tykes of Barnsley are the visitors to Sixfields on Saturday. Having just taken their additional East Stand allocation today upwards of 1000 will be making the trip down from South Yorkshire to cheer on their heroes who are currently in their best run of form this season.
They come to us riding high in 5th place in the table with 42 points from 25 games. They have won their last four games, in fact its five wins from six with the blip being a 4-0 home reverse to Leyton Orient just before Christmas.
Away league victories have been achieved at Lincoln, Crawley, Burton, Blackpool, Shrewsbury, Exeter, Bolton and Peterborough as well as in the FA Cup at Port Vale. With 25 of their 42 points coming away from home we are sure to be in for a good test.

Davis Keillor-Dunn is definitely the dangerman, top scorer with 10 goals, 9 of them in the league including one in each of his last four games. The prolific marksman had good spells at Oldham and Mansfield before his summer move via an undisclosed fee to Oakwell. Former million pound striker Max Watters broke his goal drought last weekend with his fifth of the season against Crawley. Midfielder Adam Phillips is having a good season also weighing in with eight goals so far.

Darrell Clarke is in the managers seat and thanks to those last four wins is back in the black with 14 wins against 11 defeats since taking over in May 2024.

With Barnsley having played regularly at a higher level than us over the years there is only a limited head to head, just 27 games in all competitions with us winning 14 of them. This will be only the third league encounter in Northampton since 1979.
A Paul McGregor winner for 10 man Cobblers back in 2002 gave us the points in an early season encounter which saw Ian Sampson sent off for Town. Last season Louis Appere's last minute goal was mere consolation as we fell to a 2-1 home defeat in front of a healthy 7,522 crowd. We can also include a Cobblers FA Cup win at Sixfields back in 2004 thanks to an early Scott McGleish goal. The reverse fixture this season was back in August when goals from Liam McCarron and Jack Baldwin brought us back from 2-0 down to earn a point, the aforementioned Watters and Phillips with the goals for the Reds that day.

Declan Bourne makes a return to Sixfields to referee this one. He took charge of our early season Carabao Cup defeat to Wycombe. He also reffed the Reading v Harborough Town FA Cup tie last month. 57 yellow and two reds in his 14 games this season.

[Manwork04]

-5°C Friday night, can see this being called off!

[Ragdoll Cobbler]

-5°C Friday night, can see this being called off!

🤞as they are on a decent run...

By the time it's rearranged, we should have a few more in/back from injury... They'll hopefully have hit the buffers by then too!

[Zen Master]

Get the covers off

[Deepcut Cobbler]

Northampton Town FC (First Team) v Barnsley FC (First Team)
Football League 1   
Referee: Bourne, Declan
Assistant Referee: Howick, Kevin
Assistant Referee: Williams, Ollie
Fourth Official: Atkin, Ryan

[ajp]

This’ll be off.

[Razor]

Reckon it's probably 50/50 - we got the game vs Portsmouth on last season when it was absolutely freezing which gives hope, but pitch covers can only do so much.

[WasRambo]

I'd be leaving the covers off and sprinkling a bit to be extra frozen too.

Let others play GIH and let's get some back from injury

[Shoemaker]

Reckon it's probably 50/50 - we got the game vs Portsmouth on last season when it was absolutely freezing which gives hope, but pitch covers can only do so much.

The covers won’t protect at the temperatures around at the moment,especially consecutive nights.
Racecourses have been doing  their best to get meetings on but the covers aren’t working and if the frost is already in the ground then the temperatures aren’t getting high enough to make it raceable.

If the club take off the covers today and frost is in the ground you’d think they’d call an early inspection today to call it off.
The last thing the Barnsley fans need is a treacherous journey down for no reason.

[F30]

I'd be leaving the covers off and sprinkling a bit to be extra frozen too.

Let others play GIH and let's get some back from injury

What is GIH please?

[Ragdoll Cobbler]

What is GIH please?

Games in hand

[F30]

Games in hand

Thank you, TLA’s can be confusing 😉

[Manwork04]

The covers won’t protect at the temperatures around at the moment,especially consecutive nights.
Racecourses have been doing  their best to get meetings on but the covers aren’t working and if the frost is already in the ground then the temperatures aren’t getting high enough to make it raceable.

If the club take off the covers today and frost is in the ground you’d think they’d call an early inspection today to call it off.
The last thing the Barnsley fans need is a treacherous journey down for no reason.

The covers will allegedly protect the playing surface down to -6°C
https://total-play.co.uk/products/germination-covers/#:~:text=Frost%20Protection,-TGC%20is%20also&text=Acting%20as%20an%20insulation%20blanket,temperature%20of%20%2D6%20°C.

[TVOR]

I'd be leaving the covers off and sprinkling a bit to be extra frozen too.

Let others play GIH and let's get some back from injury

Agree!

[therealpattcobb]

I'd be leaving the covers off and sprinkling a bit to be extra frozen too.

Let others play GIH and let's get some back from injury

Definitely, they are in form too.

later the game in the season is the more chance we have of getting players back/ new players in - no brainer

[the grumpy old man]

It's going to be 1 degree at best tomorrow, it will be too cold for me these days I'm afraid. The club won't miss out as I have a season ticket.

Why anyone would want to be a goalkeeper in this weather is beyond me, especially if your team is on top and you have nothing much to do. There's no shortage of them though.

[Zen Master]

Totally agree although I like my Saturday routine. Injuries that may resolve with a bit of time, possibility of new players incoming and KN having more time with the squad.
 Leave a corner or two that’s shady and minimal effort on surrounding area of the stadium and early call to prevent unnecessary travel.

Still haven’t forgiven Newcastle Utd for doing this in the Fa Cup in 1987.

[SC Cobbler]

After a weeks break since the last game I'd be itching to get this game on to avoid fixture pile up later in the season. Hopefully play out a thrilling 0-0 too.

[Ragdoll Cobbler]

After a weeks break since the last game I'd be itching to get this game on to avoid fixture pile up later in the season. Hopefully play out a thrilling 0-0 too.

Not really a fixture pile up as we've played more games than most already & not many Sat/Tues fixtures left for the rest of the season...

Rather have more players back from injury & a few more signings before facing the current form team...

Also, if both Mansfield & Stockport progress in the FA Cup, we could always play them on Sat 8th Feb 

[TPFKA Marvo]

I'm hoping its off, don't fancy another 2am kick-off.