Town had to wait until the 85th minute before a fantastic header from deep inside the penalty box by Roy O'Donovan gave them a deserved 3 points against Torquay on Good Friday.
The win moves Northampton into the automatic promotion places behind Port Vale and leaders Gillingam after a game Aidy Boothroyd admitted could have gone either way.
“We scored in the end but I thought it was a performance full of belief. They came back at us in fairness of them and it just shows you how tight the division is.
“The margins between winning and losing are so small and I thought it was an excellent advert for football at this level of the game.”
The attendance was 5,166.
***Saturday update***Chesterfield's win at Burton means it is Northampton who occupy a promotion place with just six games to go, starting at Cheltenham on Easter Monday.