The following comment will sound ridiculous to the coaches, players, staff and - most probably - supporters of the Cobblers but here it goes anyway: the result of Saturday’s game against Port Vale is not important.
Before you reach for the pitchfork, let me explain.
It might be ridiculous to dismiss the importance of league points at this stage of the season, but it’s all about the performance this weekend.
Nobody is expecting Northampton to beat Port Vale. They are second in the league and they score goals with a consummate ease.
They are better than Bradford City and so far superior to Barnet that they might as well be playing a different sport.
So anything Aidy Boothroyd manages to glean from this game will be a bonus.
A point would be a very good return.
A win, considering all the injury-related factors, would be a minor miracle.
What everyone really needs more than anything, though, is a performance, 90 minutes that demonstrate this team is capable of a lot more than it showed in the previous 180.
The long-term nature of the Northampton project has been stressed again this week - the first task that awaited Boothroyd when he took over at Sixfields almost a year ago was to keep the club in the Football League; stage two was always going to be about consolidation and solidity.
During this second phase the team is likely to lose just as many as it will win, the nature of any restructuring dictates that - even before the vast, debilitating injury situation is taken into consideration.
But there have to be signs of progress.
Supporters need to see this is a team going in the right direction, and as long as they receive such evidence on Saturday, the result is largely irrelevant.
Admittedly, Port Vale are not the ideal side against which to demonstrate these signs.
They will really fancy their chances of inflicting a third straight defeat on the Cobblers.
There is no good news on the injury front - it is essentially ‘as you were’, which means fielding the same side that started against Bradford with (at best) a couple of tweaks in attack.
The Valiants have only lost one game since August 21, are the bookmakers’ favourites for the win and they will probably get it.
But while Northampton might not get any league points this weekend, but they need to show something.
Nobody is expecting them to challenge the likes of Port Vale and the leading contenders in this division just yet.
They just need to prove, for now, that they can compete with them.
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