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Ronnie Moore made one change to the side that beat Southend United 1-0 last weekend as Steven Jennings dropped to the bench, replaced by Paul McLaren, returning to the side from a two match ban, whilst there was no place on the bench for Terry Gornell.
With niether side having anything to play for, other than pride, there was definately a relaxed atmosphere around Sixfields before kick-off, with a number of Rovers fans turning up in fancy-dress. An Ice Cream van in the Sixfields car park not only showed that it's that time of year when the sun is out and the season is coming to a close, but also a time when cold Tuesday nights spent miles away from home are forgotten and so much is to be won and lost.
For Tranmere, the game really couldn't have started in a poorer fashion, as Northampton took the lead within just three minutes with their first attack of the match.
A cross came in from the left where the Northampton winger was afforded far too much time and space, and after a bit of penalty area pinball, with Danny Coyne saving one shot, Akinfenwa eventually forced the ball home.
Rovers though almost equalised immediately as they had several chances in front of the Northampton goal. Firstly, after winning a corner on the right, Paul McLaren swung the ball into Kay who was only just beaten to the ball, which was headed out for another corner. From the resulting corner, the ball was played to the edge of the area to Stockdale who saw his drive from 20-yards pushed over the bar before from the resulting corner Stockdale was again left unmarked and recieved the ball, but this time he blasted the ball well over the bar.
Akinfenwa held off Chorley before smashing over the bar for Northampton, whilst back at the other end Antony Kay came even closer for Tranmere, as Sherriff swung an excellent cross into the back stick where an unmarked Antony Kay was able to watch the ball all the way on to his swinging right-boot, but he vollied the ball narrowly over the bar.
Larkin had a shot blocked by Goodison and Kay deflected a Dyer shot out for a corner whilst Chorley was on hand several minutes later to block another Dyer effort.
After a good run through midfield, Ian Moore stabbed a weak shot goalwards for Tranmere at the other end, but his effort from just inside the penalty area was comfortably cleared, before Andy Taylor came closer still for Tranmere minutes later.
Rovers won the ball in midfield and Sherriff played an excellent pass with the outside of his left-foot down the line to the over-lapping Taylor. Taylor just kept the ball in play and surged into the penalty area, only for his shot from a tight angle to be saved by Dunn at his near post.
On 43-minutes though, Tranmere did get that deserved goal, with Chris Greenacre scoring a magnificent over-head kick. Northampton struggled to clear a corner, with Chris Shuker eventually heading the ball back into the danger area to Chris Greenacre, who, with his back to goal, improvised brilliantly as he went head-over-heals, expertly kicking the ball into the net.
At half-time then, the game was level at 1-1, meaning Rovers would finish ahead of the Cobblers in the table, and indeed, at this point, a draw was the fair result.
The second half though was to provide much more incident and controversy than the first half, which, had the game been of more importance, could well have been more strongly argued.
The first fifteen minutes of the half saw very little incident. Robbie Stockdale did well to block a cross out for a corner on 55-minutes but injured himself in the process and he was replaced by Steven Jennings on 58-minutes, with Antony Kay switching to right-back.
This change though seemed to change the whole flow of the game. Without Kay's presence in midfield, Tranmere were cut open, whilst the side also clearly missed Robbie Stockdale's calming influence at right-back.
Coyne did well to save a header from the resulting corner after Stockdale's block, palming a point blank shot away from goal, whilst on 61-minutes Ian Goodison was bemusingly booked for a foul, although it was not he who had made the tackle which led to a free-kick that was curled just wide of the post by Daniel Jones.
Steven Davies came off the bench on 67-minutes, replacing Chris Shuker as Davies went to the left-wing, Jennings the right-wing and Shane Sherriff into centre-midfield - a strange tactical change by Ronnie Moore to say the least.
Minutes after Davies' introduction though, Northampton re-took the lead with a Poul Hubertz goal that would prove to be the winner.
Ben Chorley gave away a needless free-kick on the edge of the Tranmere box that was swung in to an unmarked Hubertz who rose and headed the ball back across goal and into the far corner of the net, leaving Danny Coyne with no chance of making a save.
Hubertz should then have been sent off for his goal celebration, as the player, who had already been booked, removed his shirt from his chest. However, referee Gavin Ward simply stood and watched the incident, yet again bottling a big decision in front of the home crowd like he had when Tranmere played at Doncaster in November.
With 79-minutes on the clock, Sherriff was replaced by Craig Curran, with Curran moving to the right-wing and Davies now on the left, but again the substitute had not been involved when another moment of controversy occured.
Goodison did well to see a ball roll out of play for a Tranmere goalkick, holding off pressure from Northampton player Gillingan. However, Gilligan took exception to Goodison and raised his hands to around Goodison's neck. The Tranmere defender reacted by trying to get Gilligan off his body, however, despite both referee and linesman seeing the incident, Gilligan was only booked when he should have been sent off, whilst Goodison recieved a highly questionable second yellow card and was dismissed.
Moments later, Ben Chorley gave away a free-kick near the half-way line on Gillingan, and in full view of the referee, who was just inches away, Gilligan slapped Chorley in the face. Referee Ward though once again bottled a big decision and Gillingan, who should have had two straight red cards in the match escaped further punishment.
A surging run from Davies late on eventually led to his shot being blocked before he over-hit a pass out of play after the ball had re-bounded back to him, as Tranmere's season ended in dissapointment.
Ultimately, the switch of Kay to defence from midfield due to Stockdale's injury messed Tranmere's game up somewhat in midfield, and no doubt had an effect on the end result.
However, for the second time this season referee Gavin Ward put in another highly dissapointing performance which could well have cost Tranmere the chance of at least drawing this match.
The defeat meant Tranmere eventually finished eleventh in League One, behind the likes of Oldham and Northampton, whilst they also finished the season on a run of eight away league games without a win, the second time this season such a run has occured.
Jones' Man of the Match: Kay could have won the award but it was he who left Hubertz unmarked for the second Northampton award, whilst Stockdale put in a good shift but only lasted 58-minutes due to injury. The best Tranmere player on the pitch therefore was probably once again Andy Taylor, who put in yet another solid shift at left-back, attacking and defending well, whilst Ben Chorley also put in an admirable performance.