We previewed Town's 1-1 draw at Wycombe on Saturday:

 

They (WW) have collected just 13 points from their last 15 starts and will replace Town in the bottom two if they lose this afternoon, which places a young , inexperienced team under huge pressure.They will take heart from a 4-1 win at Northampton in the reverse fixture before Christmas, but the two teams are much changed since, with the visitors having bridged a 9 point gap in the meantime and the mood in the two camps is completely different. Wanderers are all are about trying to survive, well funded Town are looking to the future under new boss Chris Wilder, who stands to collect a "huge" bonus if he keeps Northampton in the Football League. We spoke about this last month : Northampton spent big to get manager Chris Wilder to leave promotion chasing local rivals Oxford United and take charge of their survival bid, I understand that not only a significant salary increase was offered, but a hefty bonus if he kept the Cobblers in the top flight. When he joined them they were bottom of League 2 six points from safety, they are still in the drop zone, but are now only three points below Exeter City with a game in hand. That might not sound like massive improvement, but they had collected just 5 points from their previous seven starts and were hurtling towards the Conference, Wilder has overseen a major improvement and they have not only been getting results (unbeaten in five), but they have been coming against either direct relegation rivals, or verses promotion chasing teams. The win at Exeter in midweek was massive and the point at (then) leaders Scunthorpe United and home defeat of Southend United, especially noteworthy. They have conceded only twice in that 450 minute sequence and Wilder has quickly got them organised defensively and been very active in the loan market. I understand they are especially pleased with Zander Diamond from Burton Albion, whom they are trying to sign permanently and this week they added Cristian Lopez a striker from Championship Huddersfield Town, who was previously with both the Valencia and Real Madrid B teams. They were not far off automatic promotion pace last season and were expected to again contend this season, Chairman David Cardoza gave a local radio interview this week and spoke about last year and the recent improvement: "I'm enjoying my football for the first time in a long time. The last couple of games, especially at home, have been fantastic."Even last season, getting to the play-offs, I didn't enjoy it a lot. We still left games thinking 'how did we win that?' "We've brought in some really good players and what really pleases me is that Chris is getting the best out of certain players we might've written off at the start of the season."It shows what a good manager he is and that you should never give up on a player. "We're going to add for next season but if we keep a lot of these guys together, imagine what we could do next season." Wilder was in charge of Oxford when they won the game previewed above, so will have plenty of knowledge of the hosts and this is a similar derby game, where once again the visiting side will have massive support, with some 2,200+ expected to make the short journey ( there were only around 2,500 home supporters at the last game at Adams Park).

 

To be honest, they rode their luck at times there and were a little fortunate to come away with a point, however, on reflection, I feel that is what they came for and that is borne out by the formation they used, which according to a Wycombe supporter I spoke to, was 5-3-2, but with the wing backs urged to stay back. Which, given how Wanderers play, was a mistake, IMO, but I think the reasoning was that their most creative players were either missing ( Darren Carter 34-5-2 .... no wins in 5 road games without him) or being nursed through the two holiday fixtures ( Chris Hackett 33-2-3). Today there will be no need to take things so easy with Hackett and Carter returns, so far more options for Wilder and it now looks as though this was the match he was looking to take three points from this weekend and the first, one he was determined not to lose.
 

 

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