We build up anticipation for this weekend’s League Two fixtures by previewing two important games in the division.
Northampton vs Mansfield
Saturday’s game at Sixfields promises to be an interesting encounter between two sides who have started the season very brightly.
Despite their being no end in sight to Northampton’s financial problems, Chris Wilder’s side have been putting in sterling performances on the pitch. The Cobblers have only lost once in their last ten league games and recorded an impressive 2-1 win away at League One high flyers Coventry City in the FA Cup last weekend.
Wilder praised last week’s performance and vowed to continue playing attacking football on Saturday. He told Northampton’s official club website “It’s another tough game but we’ve got momentum at the moment and we need to keep the hammer down,”
After narrowly avoiding relegation to League Two last season Mansfield have pushed on brilliantly and are currently sitting proudly in 6th place.
However, The Millers recent form may be of slightly concern to boss Adam Murray.
Mansfield have only won once in their last four league games and have fallen to disappointing defeats against Wycombe and Bristol Rovers in recent weeks.
On a more positive note, Mansfield’s away form has been brilliant this year which will give Murray confidence that his side may come away from Sixfields with at least a share of the points.
Northampton hope to have Joel Byrom and Ryan Cresswell available but Ricky Holmes is ruled out.
As for Mansfield, Krystian Pearce is back from suspension and Nathan Thomas and Matt Blair are pushing for starts.
Oxford vs Cambridge
New Cambridge boss Shaun Derry will be hoping for a winning start to his tenure as manager as his side make the potentially tricky trip to The Kassam Stadium on Saturday.
Oxford are sitting in 2nd place and have won five of their last seven league games.
Confidence will certainly be high among Micheal Appleton’s side after their 5-1 victory away at Stevenage before the FA Cup weekend.
Oxford are the joint highest scorers in the division having scored 27 goals in 16 games. This record has certainly been helped by the performances of Kemar Roofe and Liam Sercombe who have both netted seven league goals this campaign.
Derry has a tough task on his hands to revive 18th placed Cambridge’s fortunes as the club have only won three of their last thirteen matches
The manager admitted that a mentality shift was needed among the Cambridge players as he told reporters “I want the players to enjoy being professional footballers
“I sensed last week in the game (against Basingstoke), even though we won, there was still a reluctance on the faces of the players to really enjoy the win.”
Oxford are expected to still be without captain Jake Wright, who has been struggling with a back injury in recent weeks but Appleton is expected to be able to welcome back Ryan Taylor and Johnny Mullins from suspension and Kemar Roofe from injury.
Derry could be able to call upon the services of Josh Coulson after the center back returned from calf problem. However, Keith Keane is still out.
