Cobblers frustrated by unscheduled weekend off after Reading postponement
Kevin Nolan says Cobblers will use their time off to ‘see how we can get better’ after Saturday’s scheduled fixture at Reading was one of four League One games that succumbed to the international break.
Three call-ups within the squad – Tyrese Fornah (Sierra Leone), Ethan Wheatley (England U20s) and Michael Forbes (Northern Ireland U21s) – gave Cobblers the option to call the game off, something which they were always going to take up given the importance of the missing players that would have been missing.
But the timing was not ideal given Town had just found some momentum after back-to-back wins, with Nolan saying: "It is what it is. You’d like to play but we have to deal with it. We have lads who are representing their country and we're delighted with that and we support them and I hope they go well and enjoy their time. Hopefully they do well and then they come back ready to go again for us. It'll give us some time to look at a few things and see how we can get better."
Whilst some were feeling a bit jittery after Cobblers started the season with one point from four games, Nolan was not among them.
"I've felt reasonably calm throughout because if you continue to do the right things, you get your rewards in football and that’s what I've been banging on about to the lads,” he added.
"Sometimes, when you're losing games, you can go off-piste and start doing your own thing and it was important not to do that, but we've stuck to our game plan and that meant we could get some momentum against Exeter and we have kept improving.
"We're in a good place and I'm pleased now that we're picking up points. We weren't getting the rub of the green earlier in the season but I'm very happy with where we're at and I'm looking forward to attacking what's going to be a tough few months.”