Separated by 17 miles and three divisions of the English football pyramid, local rivals Northampton Town and Kettering Town will clash in the first round of the FA Cup at Sixfields Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Cobblers have made a patchy start to their League One campaign during 2024-25, whilst the Poppies are flying high in the seventh tier, gunning for promotion to National League North.
Match preview
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Following a painful two-year absence, Northampton Town returned to the third tier of English football in 2023 and managed to secure their status with a 14th-placed finish in 2023-24, building a 16-point gap between themselves and Cheltenham Town in 21st by the end of the 46-game schedule.
Although the aim of the Cobblers is now to push towards competing in the top half of the division, Saturday's hosts have won only four of their opening 13 contests in the third tier to date, meaning that they are languishing down in 18th in the League One table, already eight points behind sixth-placed Bolton Wanderers.
Northampton witnessed their four-game unbeaten streak across League One and the EFL Trophy broken at the home of promotion-chasing Lincoln City on Tuesday night, when goals either side of the half-time break from Tom Hamer and Erik Ring cancelled out Tariqe Fosu's second-minute opener.
Despite having ex-Premier League player Tyler Roberts leading the line for the majority of the term to date, midfielder Cameron McGeehan has assumed the role of talisman in the early stages of the season, with the summer arrival from Colchester United netting four times from the engine room.
Jon Brady's troops will be desperate to evade a repeat of their poor first-round showing during the 2023-24 season, with the Cobblers losing at Sixfields Stadium to League Two Barrow, meaning that Saturday's hosts are looking to avoid a fifth straight first-round exit in the FA Cup.
Plying their trade in the Southern League Premier Division following their relegation from National League North in 2023, Kettering Town are one of the lowest-ranked sides left in this season's FA Cup, with Saturday's visitors successfully navigating four rounds of qualifying to reach the first-round proper.
The Poppies were pitted against sixth-tier Farsley Celtic in the final stage of qualification on October 12, when a 92nd-minute strike from Isiah Noel Williams secured a 2-1 success over the National League North mid-table dwellers at the Citadel Stadium in West Yorkshire.
Since securing their spot in the first round for the first time in 13 years, Kettering have recorded three straight victories as they hunt for the Premier Division crown, beating Bromsgrove Sporting, AFC Sudbury and Stourbridge by an aggregate scoreline of 6-2 to complete a productive October schedule.
A regular for Newcastle United in the Premier League and Championship between 2009 and 2011, Nile Ranger is the star within the Poppies' ranks this season, with the 33-year-old attacker bagging four league goals so far, and the same can be said for ex-Wrexham man Daniel Jarvis.
Despite co-existing just 17 miles apart, Northampton and Kettering have only faced each other in a competitive fixture on two occasions in the past, with the most recent of those arriving all the way back in November 1989, when the Cobblers won an FA Cup clash between the pair.
Team News
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Subbed off during the half-time break at Lincoln on Tuesday, Northampton midfielder Ben Fox is unlikely to start in the FA Cup this weekend.
As a result, Tunisian youngster Samy Chouchane will require a new partner in the engine room, with William Hondermarck representing the most likely candidate for that role.
Birmingham City loanee Roberts will be available for selection despite his League One red card earlier in the week, so Tom Eaves may need to settle for a spot on the bench once again.
Opening the scoring after two minutes in the win over Farsley Celtic in the fourth qualifying round, Wesley York should continue in the Kettering XI.
Operating at the focal point of the attack, Jonny Edwards has netted on four occasions in the seventh tier so far and will be looking to have a game-deciding impact at Sixfields.
Northampton Town possible starting lineup:
Burge; Odimayo, Baldwin, Guthrie, Guinness-Walker; Hondermarck, Chouchane, Pinnock, McGeehan, Fosu; Roberts
Kettering Town possible starting lineup:
Jezeph; Hart, Johnson, White, Powell; Kelly-Evans, Thanoj, Miller; York, Ranger, Noel-Williams
We say: Northampton Town 3-1 Kettering Town
Before a 10-man defeat at Lincoln on Tuesday, Northampton were enjoying a productive spell of results, so we are expecting the Cobblers to get back to winning ways this weekend.
Kettering will be hyped up for only a third-ever competitive clash with neighbours Northampton, but we feel that the Poppies will be outdone by EFL quality at Sixfields.
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Carter White
