Northampton boss Ian Sampson would have liked to keep hold of Stoke loanee Ben Marshall. Marshall was a success during his three-month stay at Sixfields but joined Cheltenham less than a week after being recalled to the Britannia Stadium.

Sampson said: "He went back to Stoke for a week and obviously they didn't fancy him and wanted to get him back out on loan again.

"That's the way it goes sometimes. We were close to doing a deal to keep Ben here, but they thought differently.

"He's gone to Cheltenham now and we'll be seeing him again soon because we play them in a few weeks, so we'll look forward to that and getting the upper hand on him."