Saturday’s meeting with Northampton will be the 69th meeting between the two sides.
Dale have won 21 of those, drawn 24 and lost 23.
The Cobblers were 3-0 winners in the reverse fixture earlier this season, at Sixfields.
However, Dale haven’t lost to Northampton at the Crown Oil Arena since April 2000. We’ve had a look at some recents games between the clubs at the Crown Oil Arena…
Saturday 26th February 2022 – Dale 1-0 Northampton Town
Our last home game against Northampton came almost a year ago, when we welcomed the second-placed side. The first-half was even, both teams created good chances but neither side could break the deadlock.
The best chance of the first period fell to Matty Done. He did brilliantly to get around Fraser Horsfall, beating him to the byline before sending an inviting ball across the face of the goal. Northampton ‘keeper Liam Roberts flew to his left to keep out Jimmy Keohane with a fine save, before Alex Newby struck over the bar on the follow up.
Eight minutes after the restart Dale broke the deadlock. Newby’s back post cross was met by Max Clark, who sent the ball goalwards. Tahvon Campbell got in front of his marker and turned the ball beyond Roberts and into the far corner from just inside the six-yard box.
Dale had a couple of chances to grab a second but failed to do so. They weren’t left to rue their missed opportunities though as the Cobblers didn’t trouble during the second-half, meaning a well-deserved three points was secured.
Tuesday October 22 2013 – Dale 3-2 Northampton Town
A late comeback from Dale saw us move two points clear at the top of the Sky Bet League Two table with a 3-2 win.
The visitors opened the scoring within the first minute of the game through a brilliant strike from Luke Norris, who caught ‘keeper Josh Lillis off guard from 25-yards. It was a speculative but brilliant strikethat nestled perfectly into the top corner.
Dale would respond through Ian Henderson in the 25th minute. A cross into the box from the left wasn’t dealt with properly by the Cobblers and after a couple of looping headers, Henderson fired home from a tight angle beating the ‘keeper.
The home side looked to be in control but seven minutes before half-time Northampton restored their lead. Stuart Dallas caught Lills by surprise when he opted to shoot rather than cross the ball after driving in from the right. His effort meant that Dale went into the break behind.
After spending most of the second-half trailing, an equaliser came in the 87th minute. Michael Rose struck a free-kick low and hard into the back of the net 20-yards from goal, sending his effort around the wall and past Matthew Duke to level up the game again.
With three minutes of stoppage time on the clock George Donnelly netted to secure three points for Dale. The ‘keeper got a hand on Donnelly’s effort, but he couldn’t get enough behind it to stop the ball from trickling over the line.
Saturday 17th April 2010 – Dale 1-0 Northampton Town
This fixture was arguably the biggest and most important meeting between the two sides in Dale’s history. This win over Northampton meant that Dale were promoted from League Two and sealed their first promotion in 41 years.
Prior to kick-off Dale knew that they had five games to go to seal promotion to League One and that three points against Northampton would secure it on the day.
Although those plans were nearly ruined when Liam Davis set his eyes on goal. Luckily for Dale, he wasted his effort and shot wide of the goal. Steve Guinan and Kevin Thornton also went close, in what was a shaky opening start to the game for the home side.
Dale’s worry was eased when Chris Dagnall turned a corner that was fired into him towards goal. His effort wasn’t well hit and bobbled slowly towards the Northampton net. Chris O’Grady was the first to react, holding off a Northampton defender and firing a powerful shot high into the roof of the net, sending the Crown Oil Arena wild.
O’Grady nearly grabbed a second in what was a nervy encounter. He had two chances in the space of a couple of seconds. His first effort was saved, but only as far as Dale’s number 19, who headed the rebound against the bar.
In the end, O’Grady’s first-half strike was enough to seal the much needed three points to send Dale into League One.
The Crown Oil Arena would erupt once more that day when the referee blew his whistle for full-time leading to a huge celebration as well as a pitch invasion.