Cobblers fans were right to have a go at us after FA Cup exit, admits Nolan
Kevin Nolan admitted Cobblers fans had every right to vent their frustration at his players after Saturday’s dismal FA Cup defeat to Oldham Athletic.
A sixth successive first round exit – the last three of which have all come against teams in lower divisions – was as good as sealed with less than five minutes gone at Boundary Park as Michael Mellon pounced on lax defending to bag a quickfire double.
More poor play allowed Mellon to complete his hat-trick early in the second half and not even Cameron McGeehan’s late consolation could save Cobblers from getting plenty of stick after full-time – both on social media and in the away end.
Asked if he felt the players let him and the supporters down, Nolan replied: "I don't think the lads want to let people down. I've been happy with the squad and where they’re at but I have to question them today and I want answers and what they have to do now is give me answers and prove me wrong.
"They have to prove the supporters wrong as well because today was the first time that they have had a go at them and a go at us and rightly so because it was a really poor performance from us. We'll take it on the chin but when you put in poor performances like that, the fans deserve to have their say and I've told the players, I'm not having that.
"The players have to react the right way now and they'll be watching the game back when we come back in on Monday morning. All the fans had to watch it and I had to watch it and now they'll have to watch it and see what went wrong and go through everything.
"I've been in those moments as a player and I know what it’s like when you look back at the video and you're wincing at yourself because you can see that other player wants it more than you and there's nothing worse as a player. They'll have to go through it and they have to react in the right way and in a positive way and that's what we'll do this week.”