With their League Cup adventure now over, the Cobblers and manager Ian Sampson know it is League Two results that will ultimately judge their season, starting with a home game against Gillingham.
Boss Hessenthaler told the Kent club's website: "They are a side that don't really warrant their current position in the table."
A repeat of the previous meeting between the two sides will serve Sampson's cause very well indeed.
Northampton won that game 4-0 at Sixfields in February 2008 although the scorer of two of the goals that day, Bayo Akinfenwa is now a Gillingham player and could well come back to haunt his former club.
"Northampton was a club where I have played some of my best football in my career and I scored a lot of goals there, so it will be nice to go back and see a lot of familiar faces," Akinfenwa told Skysports.com.
"Obviously, I would like them to do well this season and in the future, but that doesn't apply when we face them.
"We will take any away win that comes along, to be honest, but if it happens to be at Northampton then so be it."