A 14,000+ crowd is expected at Vale Park for Saturday's big League Two game between Port Vale and Northampton Town, a fixture with huge importance for the home side but one that is also crucial to the visitors.
Vale know that a win will secure automatic promotion while the Cobblers, still with hopes of going up, are looking to confirm their place in the play-offs.
Town ended a run of defeats with a midweek draw at Wycombe Wanderers but have gone four games without a goal prior to making the trip to the Potteries.
Boss Aidy Boothroyd, however, has backed his attacking players to come good and is also confident that Vale's 30-goal striker Tom Pope can be shackled.
Recent encounters between the teams
|
Season
|
Date
|
Team
|
Result
|
Team
|
Comp
|
|
2012/2013
|
Sat 27 Oct
|
Northampton
|
2 - 0
|
Port Vale
|
League Two
|
|
2011/2012
|
Sat 25 Feb
|
Northampton
|
1 - 2
|
Port Vale
|
League Two
|
|
2011/2012
|
Fri 14 Oct
|
Port Vale
|
3 - 0
|
Northampton
|
League Two
|
|
2010/2011
|
Sat 12 Feb
|
Port Vale
|
1 - 1
|
Northampton
|
League Two
|
|
2010/2011
|
Sat 13 Nov
|
Northampton
|
0 - 0
|
Port Vale
|
League Two
|
|
2009/2010
|
Sat 06 Mar
|
Port Vale
|
1 - 3
|
Northampton
|
League Two
|
|
2009/2010
|
Sat 12 Dec
|
Northampton
|
1 - 1
|
Port Vale
|
League Two
|
Cobblers Mad will have more from the match over the weekend.