Northampton's 2003/04 season appeared to be the complete opposite of Swansea's, after the Cobblers recovered from a very poor start, to fight their way into the playoffs. Ironically, the turning point in their season seemed to be the live SKY 2-1 victory over the Swans, that spurred them into a decent run of form. Northampton also won last season's Vetch encounter, with a sound 2-0 victory, before Mansfield beat them on penalties in the playoff semi-final.
Colin Calderwood's men have been named Coca Cola League Two title favourites by just about every single betting firm in the country - and it is no real suprise. After an initial impressive outlay on players in the summer of 2003, the Cobblers only began to see a return on their investment after Christmas. If Northampton can once again gain up a head of steam, then they will prove very difficult to beat next season and Swansea will be well aware that there is no better way of staking your own title ambitions, than to beat the favourites.
Northampton's pre-season form has also been relatively impressive. A 2-1 victory away at Kettering was followed up by a 0-0 draw against Championship side Wolves. Their most recent fixture came in the form of Conference outfit Stevenage away, who they defeated 4-0 with goals from Richards and McGleish.
So what has happened to the Cobblers playing staff over the course of the summer? Trollope, Hargreaves, Asamoah, Taylor and Reid have all left the club
since May and Calderwood has been busy attempting to bring players of his own in. At one stage, the Northampton manager claimed that they were actively seeking Lee Trundle, although nothing ever materialised of an unlikely move.
Scott McGleish could well be the goal-scorer that spurs Saturday's visitors on to greater things next year. The striker has signed on a free from Colchester, where he scored 17 goals last season in the old Second Division. On paper, this appears to be an impressive coup and Cobblers fans agree that this move has been their single, most-exciting of the summer.
Calderwood has also recently added two foreigners to his squad, with Pedj Bojic and Bertrand Cozic joining aft
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Marc Richards will probably be the most familiar Cobbler to Swans fans on Saturday, after the striker scored seven crucial goals for Swansea during their relegation battle in 2002/03. The most significant was probably the late winner at Rochdale in Swansea's penultimate fixture, that gave Flynn's men a fantastic platform for the final day of the season....and the rest is history!!
Saturday's fixture will no doubt be a tough encounter for Swansea and will allow supporters to guage for the first time the club's progress over the summer. After Trundle was recently ruled out for the clash, supporters will be desperate to see the return to fitness of Adrian Forbes, to really give Northampton something to worry about at the back.
Prediction: This one has got a draw written all over it - hasn't it?? There are bound to be goals and Northampton will definitely find Swansea much less of a push-over than their previous meeting last April - could the Swans just sneek it??!!!