GROUND HISTORY TRAVEL

Despite spending most of its modern day existence in the lower rungs of the Football League ladder, Northampton Town had briefly flirted - albeit unsuccessfully - with the top flight of English football during the mid-1960s. A dramatic fall saw them begin the 1970s in Division Four and it was in the lower divisions of the pyramid that the Cobblers remained well beyond the formation of the Premier League. No really. And here endeth Soccer AM gag #1851.

There were, all told, a couple of hairy moments in the early 1990s that could have resulted in non-league football coming to Northamptonshire's county town, but the club survived and consolidated enough to entrench itself as a Football League side once again. A move to Sixfields in 1994 eventually brought some renewed success to Northamptonshire, with promotion to Division Two and a narrow failure to return to the second tier for the first time since 1967.

The first competitive encounter between Northampton Town and Stevenage Borough came in 2005/6 as part of the FA Cup. It was an eye-raising encounter, if you can excuse the pun, for coach Lionel Perez decided it would be advisable to aim a finger or two at his counterpart's eyes in a 2-2 draw at Broadhall Way. If it were Gallic flair, or pure petulance, it still an attracted unfavourable response from most - even Match of the Day. It wouldn't be until 2010/1 when the two sides would meet again competitively – this time in League Two.

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