Fleetwoodvs.Northampton

With just four games left to play in England's third tier, the hosts find themselves six points adrift of safety, while their visitors sit 11th thanks to back-to-back wins.

Match preview

With the League One run-in hotting up, Fleetwood Town find themselves in an increasingly desperate position in the fight for survival ahead of the weekend, having failed to narrow their gap to safety in recent weeks.

Across spells under the management of Scott Brown, Lee Johnson and current boss Charlie Adam, the Cod Army have endured a dismal campaign thus far, amassing just 34 points from their 42 outings while only winning seven of those.

The most recent of those victories came at home to Wigan Athletic in early March, and while Adam's side did follow that up with commendable draws against Stevenage, Bristol Rovers and Charlton Athletic, they have since failed to strengthen a bid to escape the drop zone since late last month.

Sat on 34 points with seven games to play, the Cod Army firstly suffered a damaging defeat to fellow strugglers Cheltenham Town before taking a 4-0 beating away at Oxford and most recently falling to a 1-0 loss at the hands of Blackpool on Saturday, as Jake Beesley netted the only goal of the game in the 22nd minute at Bloomfield Road.

Now sitting 23rd and six points adrift of safety with just 12 left to fight for, and with Port Vale and Cheltenham Town both also holding a lead inside the drop zone, Fleetwood Town are quickly running out of time if they are to keep their slim survival hopes alive and will be desperate to narrow the gap slightly and make a return to winning ways at the weekend.

That will be no easy task, though, as the visitors arrive in a pleasing run in the final weeks of the campaign, having all but secured a top-half finish.

After only winning promotion back to England's third tier last season, Northampton Town have enjoyed an impressive season in League One, establishing a strong mid-table standing having earned 59 points from their 43 games thus far.

Indeed, the Cobblers only dropped out of the playoff picture in March as they only collected two points from a five-match winless streak, and they have since bounced back in impressive fashion, albeit with less to fight for, having added three notches to their wins column in the last four attempts.

Brady's men firstly saw off Derby County and Port Vale in 1-0 and 2-0 home wins respectively, either side of a narrow loss away at Reading, before most recently hosting basement side Carlisle United on Saturday and prevailing in another 2-0 triumph, as Kieron Bowie opened the scoring around the half-hour mark and Ali Koiki added a second in the dying embers.

Now sitting 11th thanks to their recent improvement, albeit with all of their recent success coming at Sixfields, Northampton sit in a strong position in their bid to seal a top-half finish in League One this term, and they will set out to take a major step closer with a fourth victory in a five-match span on Saturday.

Fleetwood Town League One form:

D

D

D

L

L

L

Northampton Town League One form:

L

L

W

L

W

W

Team News

While avoiding wholesale changes after only suffering a narrow defeat away at Blackpool last time out, Charlie Adam could re-introduce Jayden Stockley up front for Fleetwood Town from the outset on Saturday, having netted a team-high tally of 10 goals so far this term.

In a 3-4-1-2 shape, he could rejoin Promise Omochere up top, while Danny Mayor will continue to offer attacking support ahead of the midfield pairing of Bosun Lawal and Gavin Kilkenny.

Jon Brady is also unlikely to make many changes to his last Northampton Town starting XI after their 2-0 win over Carlisle United at the weekend, although Ali Koiki is likely to feature from the outset in defence after replacing Akinwale Odimayo at half time and netting his side's second goal.

He will line up alongside Sam Sherring and captain Jon Guthrie in a back three, while Ben Fox and Marc Leonard will hope to continue in midfield despite competition from Shaun McWilliams.

At the top end of the pitch in their 3-4-3 shape, Louis Appere will continue to lead the line with support from Kieron Bowie and star forward Sam Hoskins, who boasts 15 League One goals this season.

Fleetwood Town possible starting lineup:

Lynch; Rooney, Heneghan, Sarpong-Wiredu; Broom, Lawal, Kilkenny, Johnston; Mayor; Omochere, Stockley

Northampton Town possible starting lineup:

Burge; Koiki, Guthrie, Sherring; McGowan, Fox, Leonard, Pinnock; Bowie, Appere, Hoskins

We say: Fleetwood Town 0-2 Northampton Town

While the hosts certainly have far more to play for in Saturday's contest, it is the Cobblers who are enjoying an impressive end to the campaign while Fleetwood are failing to build any momentum in their unlikely survival bid.

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