Cobblers boss Boothroyd wary of wounded Dagenham

Town’s first opponents of 2013 come to Sixfields having lost on Boxing Day and on Saturday, with Southend United and Port Vale each scoring three times respectively.

It is a miniature slump that has followed back-to-back 1-0 victories that had elevated Dagenham to the upper reaches of the npower League Two table.

And although they go into the game in 15th place, a win will see them overtake Northampton, a fact not lost on manager Boothroyd.

“I think it will be a tough game,” he said. “Dagenham were down there with us last season but John Still is a football guy, and he’s been around the block.

“He gets good players in and organises them, and they’ll be smarting after their defeat. Since I’ve been here we’ve got some good results against them and hopefully we can continue that.”

Although Town go into the game relatively refreshed after postponements of the games at Wimbledon and Gillingham mean they have not played since December 22, they have been hindered slightly in terms of training.

The wet weather has limited options for Boothroyd and his staff, but they have located a field very close to home on which to go through a few things.

“We haven’t been able to do exactly what we want to do but we have been able to find a patch of grass in Northampton that isn’t completely soaked and that happens to be our pitch,” he said.

“So the groundsman is in, working on it, and that allows us to maintain the distances and the work that we need to do to prepare for the matches.”