The Sky Blues host Northampton Town at the Coventry Building Society Arena on Wednesday evening. Here’s everything you need to know about our opponents.
Fact File
Name: Northampton Town
Founded: 1897
Stadium: Sixfields (opened 1994)
Capacity: 7,798
Nickname: The Cobblers
Address: Sixfields, Northampton, Northamptonshire, NN5 5QA
Pitch Size: 106 x 65 yards
The Opposition
Northampton Town begin the campaign hoping to bounce back at the first attempt after their relegation from Sky Bet League One last season.
After coming up through the play-offs, The Cobblers spent most of the first half of the campaign outside the relegation zone despite only winning six of their opening 21 games. However, only eight of the final 25 matchdays would be spent outside the bottom four and despite Jon Brady taking over from Keith Curle in early February, he was unable to achieve survival with Northampton ending the season on 45 points, just three short of safety.
It has been a summer of change for the Cobblers with 12 coming in and 12 leaving the club as Jon Brady tries to make his mark on the squad.
Brady has looked north of the border for a number of his 12 signings including a trio leaving Rugby Park for the East Midlands in the form of Kilmarnock trio Nicke Kabamba, Mitch Pinnock and Aaron McGowan as well as bringing in Liam Roberts, who has started the season as number one, and highly rated Kion Etete on loan from Tottenham Hotspur.
And the early signs are positive with eight of the signings starting in the 1-0 home victory over Port Vale at Sixfields on Saturday as striker Benny Ashley-Seal netted the only goal of the game 23 minutes in.
Manager
Jon Brady was initially appointed as caretaker manager of Northampton Town in February 2021, before being confirmed as being in charge for the rest of the campaign in March and then being announced as the manager of a full time basis in May 2021.
The Australian began his managerial career with Brackley Town in 2009, winning the Southern League Premier Division in 2011/12 and narrowly missing out on successive promotions after losing to FC Halifax Town in the Conference North Play-Off Final.
2013/14 would see the Northamptonshire outfit reach the Second Round of the FA Cup after defeating Gillingham 1-0 in a replay after a 1-1 draw at Priestfield in the First Round.
Brady would leave Brackley in 2015, joining Northampton Town the next year as their u16s coach being promoted to the u18s role in 2017.
With The Cobblers deep in relegation trouble Brady was called upon to take charge of the first team and despite a strong March that saw victories over Plymouth Argyle, Portsmouth and Oxford United a run of one win in the last seven saw Brady’s men return to the fourth tier.
Last Six Games
Won – Northampton Town 1-0 Port Vale (Sky Bet League Two)
Drew – Sunderland 1-1 Northampton Town (Sky Bet League One)
Lost – Northampton Town 0-3 Blackpool (Sky Bet League One)
Drew – Gillingham 2-2 Northampton Town (Sky Bet League One)
Won – Northampton Town 3-0 Ipswich Town (Sky Bet League One)
Lost – Peterborough United 3-1 Northampton Town (Sky Bet League One)
Last Time We Met
The last time the two sides met was in Sky Bet League One in January 2017 when a Keshi Anderson hat-trick gave the Sky Blues an afternoon to forget at Sixfields.
Sky Blues skipper Jordan Willis was sent off after 19 minutes and just after the break the side from Northamptonshire would take the lead as Anderson fired into the top corner before the striker found the net ten minutes later after Lee Burge had initially done well to deny Matt Taylor.
Burge was doing his best to keep City in the game but he could do little to deny Anderson his third to complete his hat-trick.
Head-to-Head Record
Sky Blues Wins – 19
Draws – 16
Northampton Town Wins – 26
Club Connections
Clive Platt
Wolverhampton born forward Clive Platt moved to Northampton, from the Sky Blues in 2012 after two years in Coventry.
Platt began his career at local club Walsall in 1995 making his first team debut in 1996/97 but after only 39 appearances Platt moved north to Rochdale where he netted double figures in his first two campaigns at Spotland.
After spells at Notts County and Peterborough United, MK Dons would come calling in January 2005 and that is where Platt would have the most prolific season of his career netting 18 times in 2006/07.
That tally would catch the eye of Colchester United, who gave Platt his first season of Championship football, a league he would return to in 2010 when Platt made the move to Coventry.
Platt played a big part in an initial strong start to the season for Aidy Boothroyd’s Sky Blues making 37 appearances in total, before making 33 in an ultimately disappointing campaign as City suffered relegation in 2011/12.
That summer Platt would be reunited with Boothroyd, joining Northampton only to suffer Wembley heartbreak come May losing 3-0 to Bradford City.
The next season would be one of struggle for The Cobblers with Platt making the move to then League Two Bury in January 2014 before retiring that October.
Match Officials
Benjamin Speedie will be the man in the middle on Wednesday evening.
This will be the first match Speedie has officiated concerning the Sky Blues and he began his second season in the Football League last Saturday at Fleetwood.
Speedie awarded 78 yellow cards and 5 red cards last season across the 29 FA Cup and EFL matches he officiated last season, on top of the 3 cautions issued in Portsmouth’s victory at Highbury on Saturday.
Speedie will be assisted by Darren Wilding and Ian Smedley whilst Richard Morris will act as the fourth official.