15th October 1994, and Sixfields Stadium became the home of Northampton Town for the next 25 years and beyond. A move away from the old County Ground to a new purpose-built community stadium only 4.4 miles down the road, a move that had been mooted for many many years at various different locations around Northampton.
The first visitors to the stadium saw Barnet FC, a north-west London club who were formed in 1888. This was the Cobblers 11th division three game of the 1994-1995 season where the Cobblers finished 17th and Barnet 11th.
The first-ever goal scorer at Sixfields Stadium saw DarrenHarmon sending in a low cross to Oxfordshire forward Martin Aldridge who let fly into the top corner and scored in the 61st minute of the game, perhaps that much sweeter with both players coming up through the youth team.
However, the first game at Sixfields didn’t result in 3 points for the Cobblers due to Scottish striker Freedman who hammered home as he had both time and space in the 68th minute of the game. The match ended in a 1-1 draw and moved Barnet up to 4th in Division 3.
Since this iconic day in the history of Northampton Town much has happened. A total of 663 competitive games have played by Northampton Town at Sixfields Stadium and the Cobblers have won 294 of them.
A total of 21 managers have managed a competitive game on the Sixfields pitch for the cobblers.
– Ian Akins
– Kevin Wilson
– Kevan Broadhurst
– Terry Fenwick
– Martin Wilkinson
– Richard Hill
– Colin Colderwood
– Josh Gorman
– Ian Sampson
– Stuart Gray
– Gary Johnson
– Dave Lee
– Adrian Boothroyd
– Andy King
– Chris Wilder
– Rob Page
– Paul Wilkinson
– Justin Edinburgh
– Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
– Dean Austin
– Keith Curle
A total of 105 teams have played a competitive game at Sixfields. Including topsides (at the time the Cobblers played them) Tottenham, Manchester United, West Brom, West Ham.
Sixfields Stadium has seen many capacities and near sellouts:-
- Manchester United on 21/09/2016 in the League Cup under manager Rob Page with an attendance of 7,798. This game resulted in Manchester United winning 3-1 and Manchester United progressing to win the competition that year.
- Peterborough United on 19/11/2016 in Sky Bet League One under manager Rob Page with an attendance of 7,675. This game resulted in 1-0 win to Peterborough.
The first hattrick that was scored at Sixfields was vs Bury when Neil Grayson put 3 in the back of the net in division 3 on 12th August 1995.
Unfortunately, the first red card at Sixfields came in a 3-0 defeat to Torquay when Ian Sampson got sent off.
A summary of Cobblers record at Sixfields can be seen below:-
Many games will be remembered at Sixfields and I look back on a few of the more memorable:-
- Northampton Town 0 – Manchester United 3 – In 2004 the Cobblers were handed a 4th round FA Cup tie vs Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United side at Sixfields.
- Northampton 1 – Cheltenham 0 – in 2013 the Cobblers earned themselves a spot in the play-off semi-finals and the first leg was played at Sixfields with a crowd of 6563.
- Northampton 3 – Northwich 2 – The game was partly overshadowed by a fire at the Sixfields Tavern which started shortly before the game and continued to burn throughout.
- Northampton Town 6 – Crewe Alexandra 0 – The Cobblers hit six goals for the first time ever at Sixfields as they demolished high-flying Crewe 6-2 on a cold February Tuesday. Six different players managed to get on the scoresheet as the Cobblers came from behind to leave Crewe shell-shocked.
- Northampton Town 1 – Chester 0 -The Cobblers clinched promotion to League One in 2006 thanks to a solitary strike from top scorer Scott McGleish as they earned a 1-0 win against Chester.
- Northampton Town 3-0 Bristol Rovers – Probably the most memorable game seen at Sixfields. Our semi-final opponents were Bristol Rovers managed by Ian Holloway in his first top job as a player-manager. The first leg at the Memorial Stadium saw the Cobblers fall 3-0 behind thanks to a Peter Beadle penalty followed by goals from Frankie Bennett and Barry Hayles. At 3-1, the tie was still not over. The final goal was headed in by Ray Warburton with thirteen minutes to go to complete the turnaround and send Sixfields absolutely potty.
- Northampton Town 3 – Oxford United 1 -In 2014 the Cobblers faced Oxford United on the last game of the season, a game which saw Chris Wilder face his former side Oxford United at Sixfields Stadium and needing to win to ensure survival.
- Cobblers 2-2 Rotherham United- When Rotherham United came to visit on Good Friday 2011, Town were in desperation land. Sammo had been replaced by Gary. When the Cobblers scored the equalising goal an invader was on the pitch alone in his wheelchair and went from the halfway line all the way to the North Stand to celebrate.
Many memories made hopefully many more memories like this to be made.
Written By Ethan Grande. For more facts and figures from the past visit Cobblerspast.com and Follow @cobblerspast on social media. Make sure you look at our social media for images and more facts as we celebrate 25 years of Sixfeilds Stadium.