Your highs and lows, a short history...

[The 12th Marquis of Sixfields]

You had to wonder?

[j20cobbler]

I did Yeh. Needn't have worried though, cause as Ronnie said afterwards, I thought it was Northampton we were playing, not Real Madrid.
.....And as a Sixfields low, how about the night Cardiff came to town. I don't remember the score or the year (late nineties I think). What I do remember is the abject failure of the police that night aftwards outside the ground.

[The 12th Marquis of Sixfields]

Nah I meant Poggy had to wonder why Ronaldo was getting dogs abuse. It's Ronaldo!

[cottager]

Will pick out my top 10 moments and I'll try and go into these in a bit more detail for you Cottager. I've found youtube clips for a couple of them, which may or may not be useful to you if you're doing a walking-round-the-pitch thing:


Bristol Rovers, Division 2 (now League One) play-off semi in 1998, we looked down and out of it after a 3-1 loss in the first leg, came back and won the second leg 3-0 at home to go through 4-3 on aggregate. That took us to Wembley for a play-off final for the second consecutive season (we'd won the Division 3 final the previous season). This one didn't end as happily though as we lost 1-0 to Grimsby, with a then-record contingent for a Wembley play-off final of 41,000 Cobblers fans looking on.



(video shows our goal at Bristol Rovers and then Ray Warburton's goal to make it 3-0 on the night at Sixfields)


Cobblers 2-0 West Ham United, September 1998

Weirdly, most of our cup upsets seem to come on the road rather than at home (Anfield probably the most well-known example, but also Ipswich, Reading, Bolton and QPR in the not dim and distant past). One notable exception was in 1998, when a late brace from Chris Freestone helped see off Harry Redknapp's star-studded West Ham side in the first leg of a League Cup match (they were all two-legged back then, not just the semi-finals!). A young Frank Lampard scored to give the Hammers victory on the night in the return fixture, but Town progressed 2-1 on aggregate.

http://www.11v11.com/matches/northampton-town-v-west-ham-united-15-september-1998-33472/

Lee Harper's Penalty Save, Cobblers 0-3 Man Utd, January 2004

Although the visit of the champions didn't quite produce the shock that the Sky cameras were hoping for, Lee Harper's penalty save will live long in the memory. United were awarded the penalty after just two minutes when some winker named Cristiano performed a spectacular pirouette that Tom Daley would be proud of, but Harper pulled out something equally spectacular to deny Diego Forlan from the spot. My personal memory of this is watching from the hill that overlooks the ground (couldn't get a ticket), and we couldn't see the near-side goal which was obscured by the north stand, but were waiting for the south stand facing us, with the man utd fans, to jump to their feet celebrating to confirm the penalty had indeed been scored. When the main stand instead sprang to their feet, everybody looked at each other very confused for a split second before the penny dropped as to what had happened, then we were all jumping around too.

Unfortunately Mikael Silvestre was feeling less charitable and gave United the lead on the half hour, with a Chris Hargreaves own goal extending it just before half time, rounded off by Forlan redeeming himself after the break.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/3403761.stm


Cobblers 1-0 Chester City, April 2006

Scott McGleish's early goal is enough to seal promotion from League Two for Colin Calderwood's side, in front of the largest league crowd at Sixfields for over ten years. We'd had play-off frustration in the previous two seasons but it was straight up at the third time of asking. This was our last game against Chester City before they went bust. It was also the only time we have had home fans in the south stand at sixfields- it only holds 800 and is usually allocated solely to away fans, but on this occasion was split to get a few extra home fans in, given that Chester were only bringing 200 or so.

http://www.11v11.com/matches/northampton-town-v-chester-city-29-april-2006-272808/


Cobblers 2-1 Scunthorpe, April 2007

Not that I have anything personal against Scunny, but it's always good fun to **** on a promotion party. They needed a draw for promotion and, after ex-R*shden man Billy Sharp had cancelled out Alex Pearce's opener and promptly rubbed our noses in it, the champagne was on ice. Cue current Norwich man Bradley Johnson, in the seventh minute added on, giving us the latest of wins, followed by exuberant gleeful ****-taking at the expense of the almost sold-out away end.



http://www.11v11.com/matches/northampton-town-v-s****horpe-united-09-april-2007-277510/


Nicholas Bignall's goal, Northampton 2-1 Leeds United, November 2008

It's also always good fun to bring a 'too big for this tinpot league' outfit crashing down to earth, and we managed to take 4 points off Leeds in the two meetings at Sixfields during their brief stay in League One. Nicholas Bignall's 87th minute winner against the whites was probably the highlight of 2008/09, and led to similar levels of ****-taking to that which Scunny had to endure. Unfortunately, Leeds had the last laugh, beating us 3-0 at Elland Road on the final day to send us back to League Two, where we've been ever since.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/7741662.stm


Northampton 6-2 Crewe, February 2011

The one and only time we've scored six at Sixfields as the Alex were on the wrong end of a walloping. One of those games where everything that could go right, did go right. Six different goalscorers, a penalty save and an emphatic scoreline, even though the game itself was deceptively even. Northampton away was not a fixture Crewe fans looked forward to at this point in time: they'd been hammered 5-1 at Sixfields the previous season.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_3/9377320.stm


Michael Uwezu's goal, Cobblers 2-0 Stevenage, May 2011

Incredibly, this was our next win after the Crewe game. Ian Sampson failed to win any of the following seven, his sacking coming after a 3-2 home reverse against Burton. Gary Johnson came in with the club stranded in mid table, play-off chances apparently blown, but some distance clear of the trap door. For some reason he decided the best thing to do in this situation would be, and I quote, "chuck a few grenades in" to the dressing room. This had predictably dire consequences, as he added a further 12 game winless streak to the 7 under the previous manager, leaving us staring the Conference in the face.

Our last home game against promotion-chasing Stevenage looked like it could be our last football league home game for some time. But left-back Liam Davis gave us an unlikely early lead and, after sustaining heavy pressure, youngster Michael Uwezu (that name may be familiar to you, Cottager ) doubled our lead against the run of play on the hour mark, with a lung-busting 70 yard run on the counter before slotting in at the north stand end. Cue delirium at Sixfields as other results went our way and we were safe with a game to spare.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/13174151


Brett Williams' goal, Cobblers 2-1 Oxford, April 2012

Just under a year later and we were in a similar predicament, poison dwarf Johnson having failed to sort out his own mess, and Aidy Boothroyd drafted in to crisis-manage. This time, survival was much more assured and Brett Williams' stoppage-time winner against Oxford was enough to effectively keep us up with 4 or 5 games left to go. Reading loanee Williams chased down a long ball the Oxford right back was trying to allow to run for a goal kick, nicked it off him, then slotted the ball inside the far post from a tight angle to give Town an unexpected win against our 'sort of' local rivals (I wouldn't really class them as that, but some do, and you could tell from the way it was celebrated ).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17558723


Cobblers 1-0 Cheltenham, playoff semi first leg, May 2013

After two consecutive seasons of narrowly dodging relegation, last May we found ourselves in the refreshing and slightly surprising position of being two games away from Wembley. Roy O'Donovan gave us a narrow lead in the first leg at Sixfields with a close range finish. Luke Guttridge's screamer at Whaddon Road gave us a 2-0 aggregate win and took us to Wembley for the third time in our history. I've no idea what happened thereafter though, I chose to wipe it from my memory for some reason

http://www.ntfc.co.uk/fixtures-results/match-report/index.aspx?matchid=3623033



Hope all that is helpful to you Cottager! There are a few other moments some might choose to bring up, from hammering Roberto Martinez's Swansea 4-2 to end their ten match winning streak in their League One title winning season, to a guy in a wheelchair invading the pitch to celebrate a late equaliser against Rotherham, to any of the derby wins against Posh. But that is my personal top 10. Good luck to Fulham, went to see them take on Leicester at the King Power earlier this season (that's where I'm at Uni) and it was easily the best game of football I've seen in a long time. On that showing, you should have enough about you up front to scare anyone and I reckon you'll stay up.

THANKS FOR ALL THIS! Just what I wanted! Will put this info together with a few bits from other people and I should more than enough for my project.

Cheers for the advice on seating, that would've been my next question Hopefully it's a good game but a few "oohs" and "aahs" from you guys would be appreciated, even if they aren't justified by what's happening on the pitch haha!

[NTFC Nut]

No problem mate you'll get a few oohs and aahs without a doubt, and our crowd are well known in the refereeing circle for getting on the officials backs apparently (which is probably why nothing ever goes our way ) so you'll probably get a few foul-mouthed tirades as well if you want them

[wiseman]

The low was last season against Port Vale when Nichols had his leg broken, (there were fears that he could lose it), following a shocking challenge from McCombe. A few idiots from the Port Vale fans were making diving signs during the near 15 minute delay while he was being stretched off.

[A view from the east]

I nearly did. Remember the acrobatics as well... Poor lad.

Nearly 14 years since .......... Time flies RIP Martin

[betamax toploader]

THANKS FOR ALL THIS! Just what I wanted! Will put this info together with a few bits from other people and I should more than enough for my project.

Best of luck with this, to be honest, I didnt expect you to get anywhere near this level of response. 

[j20cobbler]

Nah I meant Poggy had to wonder why Ronaldo was getting dogs abuse. It's Ronaldo!

Gotcha. New to this, and i guess that's evident!

[Ralap]

Remember the night a Lincoln (At least I think it was Lincoln) player went through Clarkson? Did he break his leg? He was given dogs abuse from the Lincoln players and fans because they thought Clarkson was putting it on.
Always hated Lincoln since the 75/76 season.

[NTFC Nut]

Remember the night a Lincoln (At least I think it was Lincoln) player went through Clarkson? Did he break his leg? He was given dogs abuse from the Lincoln players and fans because they thought Clarkson was putting it on.
Always hated Lincoln since the 75/76 season.

Yep, it was Lee Thorpe who broke Clarkson's leg, and they didn't think he was putting it on, they bloody well knew he was seriously hurt, much like Vale with Nicholls last season. Always leaves a bad taste in the mouth when stuff like that happens.

[NBCobbler]

Beating Coventry 1-0 at home in the FA Cup 1990.

3-2 home win in an FA Cup replay at home to Gillingham to set up a tie with Aston Villa, 1982.

Stuffing Peterborough 5-0 away in 1985. Also 2-1 home win against the same oppo, Christmas 1983. Ray Hankin sent off I believe.

[The 12th Marquis of Sixfields]

3 matches mentioned, not one at Sixfields as requested

[NBCobbler]

3 matches mentioned, not one at Sixfields as requested

Ah, you spotted my deliberate mistake well done.  I've spotted yours as well. Four matches mentioned, not three.

[MKMal]

The low was last season against Port Vale when Nichols had his leg broken, (there were fears that he could lose it), following a shocking challenge from McCombe. A few idiots from the Port Vale fans were making diving signs during the near 15 minute delay while he was being stretched off.

The only time I've ever seen an ambulance on the pitch and parked in the goalmouth at a professional football match. Sad day but it galvanised the team to make sure they won it for Alex.

[Baby Bear]

Just to point out, nut, there were home fans in the south stand vs Sc***horpe in '97, when Sean Parrish scored in a 1-0 win to seal our play off spot.

[Ralap]

Just to point out, nut, there were home fans in the south stand vs S****horpe in '97, when Sean Parrish scored in a 1-0 win to seal our play off spot.

I was one of them.

[NTFC Nut]

I swear they said at the time of the Chester game that it was the first time they'd let away fans in the south stand? If not then fair enough, I was 4 in 1997 so I can't say my memory of it is particularly good. I do remember the West Ham and Bristol Rovers games the following year though. Perhaps if they hadn't happened I wouldn't have been pestering my dad to keep taking me to games and could have saved a lot of depression and disappointment since. It's all Chris Freestone's fault.