After collecting five points from their last three games, Northampton Town will try to extend their unbeaten run to four matches when they face Barrow in League Two on Tuesday.
The visitors enter the contest in 21st place after suffering three consecutive defeats, which has left them seven points above the drop zone.
Match preview
© Reuters
The Cobblers are currently embroiled in a thrilling promotion race after finishing the weekend in fifth place - two points adrift of the top three.
Despite harbouring hopes of climbing into the automatic promotion places, Northampton will also have one eye on those chasing behind as they sit four points clear of Exeter City in eighth place.
Jon Brady's side injected some much-needed impetus into their promotion challenge on Saturday, picking up a narrow victory at home to Salford City.
A fifth league goal of the season for Paul Lewis helped the Cobblers to a 1-0 victory, ensuring that Northampton have lost just once in their last eight league matches at Sixfields Stadium.
Another home contest awaits on Tuesday, and after collecting seven clean sheets from their 13 home league games this season, Northampton will be confident of restricting the visitors.
The task of breaking down a strong home defence will fall to Barrow, who will be in low spirits after losing their last three matches.
A Dominic Telford brace saw Newport County race into an early two-goal lead against Barrow at the weekend and although a Mickey Demetriou own goal gave the Bluebirds hope, they were unable to find an equaliser.
Having won just twice in their previous 17 league games, Barrow find themselves seven points clear of the relegation zone.
Barrow have struggled defensively of late, conceding at least two goals in five of their previous seven league games.
Despite only trailing at half time in three away games this term, the Bluebirds have gone on to lose seven of their 13 fixtures, and if the visitors are to pick up a positive result on Tuesday, they cannot afford to let their performance levels dip as the game progresses.
- W
- L
- L
- D
- D
- W
- D
- L
- W
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- W
- L
- L
- L
Team News
© Reuters
Northampton are without the services of Chanka Zimba and Joseph Mills due to injury issues.
After signing on loan from Peterborough United, Idris Kanu made his debut for Northampton on Saturday, and the Sierra Leone international is expected to feature in the starting lineup once again in midweek.
In fact, following their narrow victory over Salford, the Cobblers could name an unchanged lineup for Tuesday's encounter.
As for Barrow, Jordan Stevens and Robbie Gotts are both doubtful ahead of the trip to Northampton.
Tom Beadling returned from suspension to play the full 90 minutes on Saturday, and the 26-year-old will be in from the off on Tuesday.
Cooper gave Aaron Amadi-Holloway his Barrow debut at the weekend and the forward will be aiming to score his first goal for the Bluebirds when he partners Luke James upfront.
Northampton Town possible starting lineup:
Roberts; McGowan, Horsfall, Guthrie, Koiki; Sowerby, McWilliams, Lewis; Hoskins, Pinnock, Kanu
Barrow possible starting lineup:
Farman; Jones, Brown, Brough; Hutton, Banks, Beadling, White, Driscoll-Glennon; Amadi-Holloway, James
We say: Northampton Town 2-0 Barrow
Having won six of their last eight league home games, we think that the Cobblers will have enough quality to claim their ninth home league victory of the season when they face a Barrow side that are struggling for points.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Northampton Town win with a probability of 51.4%. A draw had a probability of 26.5% and a win for Barrow had a probability of 22.15%.
The most likely scoreline for a Northampton Town win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.17%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.44%) and 2-1 (9.07%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.29%), while for a Barrow win it was 0-1 (8.34%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with an 8.3% likelihood.
