Adebayo Akinfenwa scored a fine hat-trick as the Cobblers racked up an emphatic victory at Accrington.
Town ran out 4-2 winners with Akinfenwa bagged a treble – the first Northampton player to do so since Leon McKenzie against Hereford in October 2010 - and Jake Robinson making a goalscoring return off the bench after returning from a loan spell at Luton Town.
Accrington led 2-1 at half-time after recovering from a first-half header from the big man, who becomes the club’s leading goalscorer with this haul.
But three goals in the space of nine second-half minutes thrilled the travelling supporters, gave the club their second away win of the season and extended their unbeaten run to four.
For the first 15 minutes of this encounter on a crisp autumn afternoon there was no real action to speak of, but then Akinfenwa made his mark.
Clive Platt’s presence in the box created a moment of panic for the home defence, who conceded a corner than Chris Hackett played short to Joe Widdowson.
Widdowson, with a split-second in which to send in a cross, delivered a perfect one, outswinging and right onto the skull of Akinfenwa, who planted it superbly beyond Ian Dunbavin in the Accrington goal.
Their tails up, the Cobblers almost had a second almost immediately, and perhaps should have.
Peter Murphy blocked Platt after a mix-up between the two home central defenders had sent him away and though he regained possession and passed square to Lewis Wilson on the penalty spot, an unfortunate bounce just before the moment of connection saw his eventual shot hit the underside of the bar.
Accrington survived that one and got lucky with 10 minutes of the half to go when Dean Winnard went in high, hard and late on Lewis Hornby but escape with just a yellow card when a sending-off appeared a formality.
With the bitter taste of that incident still in the mouths of the Northampton contingent, Accrington equalised when George Miller hit a short corner first team beyond Lee Nicholls’ right hand.
It was a good strike and had to be from the distance – around 25 yards – but the visitors were not alert enough to the danger when the ball was played out.
Accrington’s second came out of nowhere. Romauld Boco collected a pass inside the centre circle, slalomed through a couple of attempted challenges and struck a left-footed shot past Nicholls that was so effortless it almost looked lazy.
But then came the fightback. Robinson had only been on for four minutes and had yet to touch the ball when Akinfenwa’s carnivorous presence in the box was enough for the home side to cough up possession.
Akinfenwa slid in Robinson, who smacked it under Dunbavin, ran to the edge of the pitch and over the hoardings into the away end, where he was enveloped by supporters.
Then Huws, who did not have the greatest of overall games, flighted a pass across field that was Premier League quality for Akinfenwa to dive full length and head home across the goalkeeper.
Such was the standard of the goal, it even had Aidy Boothroyd on his feet celebrating.
He was upstanding again moments later when Huws carved Accrington open down the left and passed for Robinson to smash a shot against the top of the post.
By this point, the home side were down and out and Akinfenwa punished them for a fourth time.
The big striker get his head to a long Ben Tozer throw only to see the ball rebound back to him to volley home.
It was his third goal of the game, his 10th of the season, and 67th for the club.
It capped a performance that was truly beast mode.
Accrington: Dunbavin, Winnard, Atkinson, Murphy, Molyneux, Hatfield, Joyce, Miller, Boco, Gray, Amond
Subs: Barnett (for Hatfield, 78mins), Sampson (for Gray, 90+2mins)
Not used: Dawber, Lindfield, Nsiala, Schofield, Liddle, Barnett, Sampson
Northampton: Nicholls, East, Tozer, Langmead, Widdowson, Hackett, Huws, Hornby, Wilson, Platt, Akinfenwa
Subs: Robinson (for Platt, 63mins), Demontagnac (for Wilson, 63mins), Mukendi (for Akinfenwa, 85mins)
Not used: Higgs, Charles, Harding, Moyo
Attendance: 1,441
Away fans: 228
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