Team news

Improving Cobblers at full strength Northampton have no new problems ahead of the visit of Port Vale.

The Cobblers recorded back-to-back league wins for the first time since the start of October when they beat relegation rivals Macclesfield 3-2 at Sixfields on Tuesday night.

However, boss Aidy Boothroyd was not happy with the performance and changes could be in the offing as Northampton bid to climb out of the bottom two for the first time since Boxing Day.

"This club has underachieved for some time and it's time we put that right," said Boothroyd.

"Port Vale on Saturday will be a different test to Macclesfield. It will be a tough game and if we play like we did on Tuesday then we will give ourselves a problem.

"We haven't swept anything under the carpet and we will make sure that we are at it against Port Vale." Defenders Ben Tozer, Byron Webster and Jason Crowe, midfielder Ryan Gilligan and forwards Lewis Young and Jake Robinson are options for Boothroyd.

Chris Birchall has gained international clearance and is likely to be in the Port Vale squad for the trip to Sixfields.

But the midfielder, who rejoined the club this week having left Vale Park in 2006, may have to settle for a place on the bench with Micky Adams' men having picked up 10 points from their previous four matches in League Two.

Fellow new signings Chris Shuker and Paul Marshall impressed from the substitutes' bench in last Saturday's 2-1 victory over Gillingham and are also pushing for starting places.

Defender Clayton McDonald has returned to training and should be available for Vale, despite picking up a hamstring injury in the game against the Gills, but Rob Taylor is still struggling with an Achilles tendon injury and is extremely doubtful.

Northampton vs Port Vale

Last modified 17:42 25/02/12

Vale down Town Goals in each half from John McCombe and Sean Rigg kept Port Vale on track for the play-offs with a 2-1 win at Northampton.

McCombe gave Vale a fourth-minute lead, heading home at the far post from Doug Loft's cross after the Cobblers failed to clear Paul Marshall's corner. That came after Matt Duke had superbly denied Louis Dodds with a point blank reflex save.

Duke kept Cobblers in the game with another excellent save to again thwart Dodds, this time keeping out his near-post header from Marshall's corner.

The Cobblers finally got into the contest after the restart and Brett Williams saw his header from John Johnson's cross tipped over by Stuart Tomlinson. But Vale doubled their advantage in the 58th minute when Dodds put Rigg away and he beat the offside trap before rounding Duke to put the ball into an empty net.

Adebayo Akinfenwa reduced the arrears in the 81st minute, turning to beat Tomlinson from close range after good work by substitute Jake Robinson.