Forest will be hoping that the next match day will be a Good Friday in more ways than the name as they try to avert the worrying recent slump in form. Also causing concern is the lack of a first half goal which has now been stretched to 12 games since Grant Holt scored against Leyton Orient on 12^th January.

They will find opponents Northampton Town in a good run of form having suffered only one loss in their last 13 games. They are managed by former Forest player Stuart Gray who is building an impressive reputation as a manager since taking over at Sixfields last season after learning his trade as a coach at Southampton, Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

His links with Wolves have helped in the transfer market and currently has signed three of the clubs players this season with Hungarian international defender Gabor Gyepes being joined by loan signings Mark Little and Daniel Jones. Jones scored in the 2-2 draw at the City Ground earlier in the season.

Northampton showed their potential on Saturday when they scored an impressive 4-2 win against runaway league leaders Swansea City and are currently in 11^th place but only 2 points away from the play offs.

MOST RECENT GAME

Friday 15 March 2008

NORTHAMPTON TOWN (3) 4 v SWANSEA CITY (1) 2

1-0    14 mins       Poul Hubertz (Northampton)

2-0    20 mins       Alan Tate own goal (Northampton)

3-0    23 mins       Poul Hubertz penalty (Northampton)

3-1    29 mins       Jason Scotland (Swansea)

4-1    52 mins       Danny Jackman (Northampton)

4-2    83 mins       Jason Scotland (Swansea)

NORTHAMPTON

Mark Bunn; Jason Crowe, Gabor Gyepes, Mark Little, Daniel Jones; Ryan Gilligan, Joe Burnell, Danny Jackman, Andy Holt; Poul Hubertz, Adebayo Akinfenwa (Giles Coke)

subs not used : Chris Dunn, Ian Henderson, Liam Dolman, Alex Dyer

CURRENT FORM

15/03/2008    Swansea City (H)                      Won 4-2

12/03/2008    Bristol Rovers (A)                    Drew 1-1

08/03/2008    Walsall (A)                           Won 2-0

01/03/2008    Crewe Alexandra (H)                   Drew 0-0

22/02/2008    Hartlepool United (A)                 Won 1-0

16/02/2008    Gillingham (H)                        Won 4-0

HEAD TO HEAD

League

at Nottingham      Played 5, NFFC 1, Northampton 1, Draw 3

at Northampton     Played 4, NFFC 1, Draw 3

F.A.Cup

at Nottingham      Played 1, NFFC 1

at Northampton     Played 2, NFFC 1, Draw 1

RECENT MEETINGS

2007/08   FL1      NFFC               2-2       NORTHAMPTON      15/12/2007

2006/07   FL1      NFFC               1-0       NORTHAMPTON      10/02/2007

          FL1      NORTHAMPTON        0-1       NFFC             12/08/2006

1965/66   DIV 1    NORTHAMPTON        3-3       NFFC             12/03/1966

          FA3      NORTHAMPTON        1-2       NFFC             22/01/1966

          DIV 1    NFFC               1-1       NORTHAMPTON      18/09/1965

1950/51   D3S      NFFC               2-2       NORTHAMPTON      25/04/1951

          D3S      NORTHAMPTON        2-2       NFFC             02/09/1950

1949/50   D3S      NFFC               0-1       NORTHAMPTON      14/09/1949

          D3S      NORTHAMPTON        0-0       NFFC             08/09/1949

1909/10   FA2R     NFFC               1-0       NORTHAMPTON      09/02/1910

          FA2      NORTHAMPTON        0-0       NFFC             05/02/1910

MEN IN CHARGE

Referee            : R.Styles (Hampshire)

                     2007/08 Record - 31 Matches, 107 Yellow Cards, 13 Red Cards

Assistant Referees : M.Murphy and M.Tingey

Fourth Official    : T.Kettle