After picking up six precious points in the space of just four days, the pressure is off Matt Bloomfield’s Wycombe team as they prepare to host Northampton Town at Adams Park on Saturday, March 16.

Crucial wins against Reading and Wigan Athletic widened the gap between Wanderers and the bottom four in League One, and the danger of being dragged into a relegation battle has virtually disappeared.

They had to dig deep in the second half of those last two victories, but they are more resilient than they were in the first half of the season and their form in the last two months has been outstanding. 

If the Chairboys beat Northampton they will move on to the accepted safety target of fifty points, and they have a superior goal difference to the teams below them.

Wanderers have won each of their last five matches against the Cobblers in all competitions, and they edge the overall record with eleven wins to Northampton’s 10, 13 games ending in a draw.

In the reverse fixture at Sixfields Stadium in September last year, an early goal claimed by Richard Keogh was enough to give the Blues a fortunate victory. 

However, Northampton have a remarkably successful record at Adams Park where they have lost only once in their last 11 visits stretching back over 20 years, and that was in a penalty shoot-out in a League Cup tie in 2018.

They have tasted defeat just four times in sixteen games at Wycombe’s stadium where the Chairboys have not beaten them in a league game since 2001.

The Cobblers were promoted to League One last season after finishing third behind Leyton Orient and Stevenage in the division below.

 They have been managed for the last three years by Australian-born Jon Brady who as a player had a short spell at Wycombe in the mid-1990s without making a first team appearance.

They are currently in mid-table, three points ahead of Wycombe having played a game more. 

Encouragingly for Wanderers, only a handful of teams in League One have lost more away games than Northampton have this season.