Julian Darby made it two wins out of two as interim boss as Wanderers continued their revival to move to the cusp of the play-off places, writes Pete Oliver.
A first victory in three home games – bookended by classy goals from George Thomason and Aaron Collins – made it the perfect way to sign off for Darby if his work in a caretaker capacity is done.
The local lad, with the backing of B Team staff Andy Taylor and Andrew Tutte, again got enough of a tune out of Wanderers to potentially hand the baton on with momentum restored thanks to a first double of the season.
Northampton – improving under the guidance of former Wanderers’ favourite Kevin Nolan – briefly threatened to spoil the party as they cancelled out Thomason’s early strike.
But with Liam Shaw then following up his equaliser with a spectacular own-goal the Whites got their noses back in front.

And then having dug in with another resolute defensive performance after the break they found one more piece of quality courtesy of Collins, whose superbly-taken 15th goal of the season secured the points and a place outside the play-offs only on goal difference.
On the back of Saturday’s win and with Darby leading the side for probably the final time on his home patch, Wanderers couldn’t have made a better start.
A superbly-worked corner routine after just two minutes saw Aaron Morley flick a delivery from Josh Sheehan – back in the side along with wing-back Jordi Osei-Tutu – into the path of Thomason, who curled the perfect finish into the bottom corner to put the Whites 1-0 up.
It was perhaps too good to be true as Northampton – having lost just twice in six games since Nolan took over – quickly killed the moment when Shaw slotted home an equaliser.
But Wanderers, despite the familiar problems of facing a wall of visiting shirts behind the ball, did look to regain the initiative as Aaron Morley played a couple of sublime passes and Osei-Tutu opened up the Town defence down their left-hand side.

And when a combination of the two allowed Aaron Collins to find Victor Adeboyejo, the striker wasn’t far off with a near-post effort he stabbed just wide.
The pressure mounted further before the break as Wanderers pressed to go back in front and after Gethin Jones had burst forward to win a corner, Thomason almost struck again with a thundering volley which brought a flying save out of Town keeper Nik Tzanev.
Thomason was enjoying some key moments and when he got involved again a minute before half-time the Cobblers’ defence did finally crack again.
The captain’s clever ball out wide to Collins allowed the top scorer to advance into the box and deliver a low cross which Shaw hammed into his own net to register a goal at each end in an eventful first 45 minutes.
That might have given Wanderers the platform to assume complete control but a sluggish start to the second half kept Northampton interested and with an hour gone defender Max Dyche had a sight of goal he couldn’t make the most of with an effort he lashed wide.
Darby made a double change with the introduction of Joel Randall and Alex Murphy to make a Wanderers’ debut as he turned to fresh legs to try and negotiate the final half hour of an eighth and final game of a draining month.

And with Collins suddenly bursting back into life the result was put beyond doubt as the in-form frontman added a third goal seven minutes from the end.
Wanderers had barely threatened in the second half but from a quickly taken free-kick substitute Josh Dacres-Cogley hooked the ball in for Collins’ first effort to end with an excellent save from Tzanev to keep out a glancing header.
But within 60 seconds there was a further chance created by Randall’s through-ball which Collins collected, carried into the penalty area and then buried beyond Tzanev to follow up Saturday’s match winner with a sixth goal in his last nine games to keep himself and his team on a roll.
Wanderers: Southwood; Jones, Forrester, Johnston; Sheehan; Osei-Tutu (Dacres-Cogley, 80), Morley, Thomason, Schön (Murphy, 61); Collins, Adeboyejo (Randall 61). Substitutes: Baxter (GK), Lolos, Arfield, McAtee.
Booked: Sheehan
Northampton Town: Tzanev; McGowan (Fosu 71), Dyche, Eyoma; Odimayo (Baldwin 71), Shaw, Taylor, Pinnock; Hondermarck (Eaves 62); McGeehan (Wilson 62), Hoksins. Substitutes: Burge (GK), Magloire, Willis.
Booked: Taylor, Shaw
Referee: Sunny Singh Gill
Attendance: 18,956 (245 Northampton)