Literally. The players and fans of Northampton Town FC come down to South Devon looking for the three points against a Gulls side in a bit of disarray at the moment. A win for the men from Northants will see them leap-frog us by a point as they currently sit 2 points behind us in 13th place and with 29 points. They will be looking to capitalise on perhaps a little bit of negativity in the yellow camp after a demoralising loss to Bradford where the lads worked their socks off and deserved something out of the game but got nothing. The lads will be deflated after that defeat and will certainly have to try and re-invigorate themselves for Northampton.
Torquay will be without defensive kingpin Brian Saah for this due to his straight red at Bradford and as i write this there is no news on the injury Billy Bodin sustained which forced him off in the first half of that game. Lee Mansell is available for selection once more after completing his 3 match ban for his sending off against Southend and we will await news of whether he is to be thrust straight back into the starting line up. My guess is that he will be. Quite what the starting line up and formation will be for the visit of the Cobblers will remain a mystery until prior to kick off but i just hope that Martin doesn't alter things too much and try to use Mansell ( if selected ) as a safety first option.
Our visitors from Sixfields are more or less on a par with us in terms of league position, they have scored a handful of goals more than us but have also conceded a handful of goals more than us so all in all it will be a tight game in prospect but one which should see goals. They have scored in each of their last seven matches netting 16 times; however, they have also only won 2 of their 10 away games and conceded 19 goals in those games, almost double our away goals against tally. They have also gone 12 games without a 0-0 draw. Goals look a certainty in this game and with us having 10 goal top scorer Rene Howe and them having former Gull Adebayo Akinfenwa who has got 13 thus far, i don't think i will be wrong. Discipline is a problem also as they have had 4 dismissals so far this season, the same as us. All in i reckon this game could be a cracking encounter.
Manager Aidy Boothroyd took over the hotseat at Northampton after failure at Colchester and Coventry. He had began his managerial career at Watford and guided them into the Premier League in 2006. Six years on and he is ploughing a furrow at Northampton, i bet he didn't see that coming 6 years ago the poor thing! I like him though, seems a good bloke and he's from Yorkshire. He has the job of trying to resurrect the fortunes of the club who have been in the doldrums for many years.
He has brought in quite a few loanees to cover for injuries to David Artell and John Johnson. Swindon Town right-back Chris Smith has been added until January and veteran defender Clark Carlisle rejoined from York City ( and was sent off v Oxford. Well done that man! ). Another defender Danny East has come in from Hull and midfielder Emyr Hughes has arrived from Manchester City. Boothroyd tried to get Balotelli but with no joy. Boothy has had to call on some of his youth team to also help cover an injury crisis with 16 year old Ivan Toney becoming the youngest ever player to feature for Northampton in their FA Cup 1st round replay against Bradford. Lewis Hornby has also impressed after deciding to not continue in the family business of manufacturing model railways. 8/
Northampton have some seasoned pro's in their ranks including strikers Clive Platt, Alex Nicholls and defenders Kelvin Langmead and Anthony Charles and they also have a player who i think has totally destroyed his career and who could have been something special, Ishmel Demontagnac. On his day he is unplayable but for whatever reason he hasn't done the business at most clubs he's been at showing brief glimpses of real quality but nothing consistent. Also in their ranks is former Gull loanee and striker Jake Robinson who had a fairly successful spell with us a few seasons back helping us to the play off final. He has been largely ignored by Boothroyd but has recently been included in the side.
Last time out the Cobblers were beaten 3-2 at home by Cheltenham after being 2 nil up after just 14 minutes. Former Gull Chris Zebroski scored in that one too.
The line up was:
1. Lee Nicholls (gk) ( on loan from Wigan Athletic )
2. Joe Widdowson
3. Kelvin Langmead
4. Ben Tozer
5. Clark Carlisle
6. Ishmel Demontagnac
7. Ben Harding
8. Chris Hackett
9. Lewis Hornby
10. Emyr Hughes ( on loan from Manchester City )
11. Adebayo Akinfenwa
SUBS: Dean Snedker (gk) UNUSED, Anthony Charles UNUSED, Danny East ( on loan from Hull City ) ( on for Widdowson on 81 mins ), Clive Platt ( on for Hornby on 64 mins ), Henoc Mukendi ( on loan from Liverpool ) UNUSED, Jake Robinson ( on for Demontagnac on 63 mins ), Louis Moult UNUSED.
Sorry for the boring content this time round, i'm sure many of you will appreciate the normality though. I'm 95% certain of making this game my first home game of the season, i just need to scrape a few more quid together and hope the car keeps on working and the weather stays ok and i'm coming down to annoy the f*ck out of everyone! :devil: I'm not really. I hope to meet up with Dave ( forevertufc) and a few others if possible ( i'll give you a ring Dave when i get down there and am on my way to the game ) and then i can impose on Bengull and his old man by standing with them on the pop for the game ( hope you don't mind fellas, i'm looking forward to that Devonshire hospitality and enjoying a sing song ).
I've got my ticket already anyway so Plainmoor here i come!!!!
I reckon this game has all the hallmarks of a cracker and goals look a formality; however, i'm going so it will be 0-0 or we'll lose. Hope not though and i'm going for a 3-2 Torquay victory and i don't care who scores!
I'll add the match officials details at some point this week but we should be ok unless it's Darren Deadman, Darren Drysdale or Danny McDermid. They all have holes where their eyes should be!
) i put all my confidence issues to the back of my head and let the singing commence! Away we go!!! COYY!! 
