This Weekend In 2005: Northampton Town, Keith Rumours and Mascot Insults

Firstly, those games around us. We needed teams above us to drop points if we were to get into the top three, and every single side above us did just that. We don’t usually cheer a Grimsby result, but they held Scunthorpe 0-0. Freddie Eastwood was on target for leaders Southend, but they were beaten 2-1 at Oxford. Swansea City, unlucky to lose to us a week or two earlier, were reduced to ten men on the stroke of halftime during their 2-0 defeat at Bristol Rovers, although both teams finished a man down. As for Yeovil, they were held 1-1 by Wycombe.

We could have gone into fourth place, two points behind Scunthorpe United with a win. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. Keith said after the game he felt we deserved something from it, although we were a long way off the pace and he was probably right. Despite the presence of menace Jarnail Singh as the referee, there was little controversy as Josh Low’s 69th-minute strike condemned us to defeat and another play-off place. Few who went will recall the game fondly, 850 Imps made up part of the almost 6,500 crowd, but had little to cheer.

In the Premier League, an Andrew Johnson goal saw Liverpool (with LeTallec and Baros up front) beaten 1-0 by Crystal Palace. Jason Shackell played for Norwich as they beat Charlton 1-0 and Bolton, with Jay-Jay Okocha, Fernando Hierro, Bruno N’Gotty, El Hadj Diouf and Ivan Campo, drew 1-1 with Aston Villa.

The weeks after this defeat were not kind to the Imps. We still needed a point to secure a play-off place, which we got with another lacklustre display against Darlington the week after. That game is best remembered for the news that Rob Bradley was stepping down as chairman, and the rumours before the game that Keith was leaving the club. Those rumours, much like the Cowley ones over the last three years, spread like wildfire and were pretty much baseless. The club were even forced to print a denial that Keith was leaving in the programme for Darlo’s visit.

The final game of the season saw us hammered 3-0 at Yeovil, who claimed the League Two title. Efe Sodje bagged twice either side of a Phil Jevons penalty, which was painful as we’d beaten them 3-1 earlier in the season. It left us without a win in three matches going into the double-header against Macclesfield Town, with Northampton pipping Darlington to the final play-off spot on goal difference.

In context, to face Swansea (promoted), Macclesfield (5th), Northampton (7th), Darlington (8th) and Yeovil (champions) in our final five games was tough, but we were hindered by our terrible start to that season. We only won three of our first 13 matches, beaten at home by Rushden and Notts County (both finished in the bottom half), as well as tough draws with a Gazza-inspired Boston and an Ellison-fired Chester. We only woke up in January and did extremely well to catch the points up, if not quite enough to get into the top three.

History will show we edged passed Macclesfield into the play-off final and despite having a decent goal ruled out in the final against Southend, Tilson’s men went through and we did not. Keith’s side broke up almost immediately, Gain, Butcher, Yeo, Futcher and Taylor-Fletcher amongst those leaving the club. The next season wasn’t quite the same (Gary Birch anyone?) and slowly but surely the descent began.

Remember my ‘what if‘ article of a few weeks ago? What if we’d beaten Northampton that afternoon? Could we have used the momentum to defeat Darlington too, setting up a mouthwatering final game at Yeovil with something at stake? What if we’d gone to Sixfields with Ciaran Toner and Marcus Richardson on the bench instead? Who knows.