Yeovil Town boss Terry Skiverton is backing his centre-half partnership to continue to keep clean sheets.

Terrell Forbes and Lee Peltier are both no more than 6ft tall but Skiverton feels they might be just what is needed for tonight's vital League One game at home to Northampton.

Skiverton estimates the Cobblers' striker Adebayo Akinfenwa weighs in at 17 stones and knows first hand of his threat as the Londoner scored in Northampton's 3-0 win in the reverse fixture in October.

"We didn't do too well against him at their place," recalled the boss. "I remember him rolling Gareth Owen and scoring a goal, and he caused us problems.

"We might be better with people who are more mobile.

"We will have to be at our best to make sure Bayo doesn't score.

"He is a handful – he is about 16 or 17 stones and he uses it really well. He is a good character and we were unfortunate to miss out on signing him last season.

"I felt if we had kept him at the time we might have been in a different situation. He is always someone you want in your team.

"We have been working on how to counteract him on the training pitch.

"But he is not the only one they have got and we know we will be up for another massive game."

Skiverton missed out on Liverpool's teenage defender Martin Kelly, who went to Huddersfield just before last week's transfer deadline. But he is happy with his squad for the final eight games and added: "It is like an 800m race. We have got to the bend of the home straight now and manoeuvred ourselves into a good position, and it is just seeing now if we have the kick to take a couple of people over before the finishing line.

"If we create as many chances (as in the 1-0 win against Swindon) we will probably take a few more. In the games leading up to it we were starved of chances but now we are creating."

Yeovil will move out of the bottom four if they win tonight.