Alright, it's not quite that bad, but this must be the most serious injury crisis we've had in years. Adebayo Akinfenwa, Luke Guttridge, Liam Davis, Abdul Osman, Ryan Gilligan, and Colin Larkin – quality players upon whom predictions of success for this season were based – have all been crocked, while we've also lost the services of loan star Mark Little with his knee injury.

Gray has come up trumps with the loan signing of 18-year-old Nicholas Bignall from Reading. He has an eye for goal, and is available to play against Leeds tomorrow – but it really is a gap-plugging exercise.

The other side of the coin is that for our young players desperate for a chance of the big time, opportunity knocks!

Alex Dyer showed how it can be done at Walsall last Saturday, but with the whole shape of the side now wrecked it isn't going to be easy for all new faces to slot in.

Nobody in their right mind would give us a cat in hell's chance of coming away from the televised FA Cup clash at Leeds with anything other than a serious thrashing, and it is that certainty which could be our salvation.

When backs are against the wall, unexpected heroes emerge and I hope to be able to report on an amazing event in this column next week.

The move to Friday night to satisfy television schedules is a double-edged sword; financially it is a nice windfall, but for our fans who must work on a Friday it's impossible to get to the game.

The ticket prices have been reduced and your last chance of getting one is tonight until 8pm when the Sixfields box office closes.

I hope as many of us as possible can be there to give the vocal support the side deserves, at times like this it does make a difference. It may be worth checking now to see if there are spare seats with Trust Travel on Northampton 499534 or Sixfields Travel on 706401.