- Team form: Northampton Town have lost their last five League One games.
- Recent form: Doncaster Rovers have won three and lost two of their last five League One fixtures.
- Home form: Northampton Town have two straight home losses at Sixfields.
Cobblers are in trouble
Northampton Town have lost their last five games, including a 4-1 defeat away to Mansfield Town, a 1-0 loss away to Bradford City and a 3-1 home defeat to Wigan Athletic, and Saturday’s hosts are in serious relegation trouble in League One.
Colin Calderwood has been tasked with tightening up a leaky Northampton Town team since his appointment, but the 23rd-placed Cobblers, who have 35 points from 41 games, are still in danger of going down.
The Cobblers' record in League One reads six wins, four draws and ten defeats. They’ve conceded 24 goals in 20 games here at a rate of 1.20 per game on average, which looks especially bad when compared to Doncaster Rovers' away record.
Doncaster, a side who have a vertical, up-tempo style and like to press high up the field, have 6 wins, 3 draws and 12 losses on the road, and have scored 17 times in 21 away matches, and they’ll need that away scoring record to hold up at Sixfields if they want to win on Saturday.
Rovers have momentum to edge it
Recent form
Doncaster Rovers bounced back from their 3-0 defeat away to Exeter City with a 1-0 victory at home to Reading last time out and Grant McCann’s team have won three of their last five.
They currently sit 14th in the table, have 53 points from 42 games and are holding a comfortable mid-table spot, but their recent momentum should see them pick up the victory.
- Northampton Town have won the last two meetings between these two, including a 2-1 win away in League One five months ago, but we’re going to bet on the visitors here at 2.09.
- Rovers are in better form and they’ll have a better chance of winning at Northampton Town than at any other time this season, given the home side are in freefall.
- The Cobblers are direct and pragmatic, preferring to keep things tight and take their chances when they arrive via set pieces and long balls, and they lack the ball retention and technical quality to outplay Rovers on their own terms.
Why Rovers can win
McCann’s side will have been pressing the opposition high up the pitch all season, they’ve got a dynamic midfield and can get in behind most teams with their directness, so we like Doncaster’s chances of getting all three points in Northampton.
