Kevin Nolan feeling 'very positive' after penultimate friendly ends in draw with West Ham United

Cobblers showed promise in spells at Sixfields on Tuesday as both Sam Hoskins and Elliott List missed chances, while Tyrese Fornah, Jordan Thorniley and Jack Burroughs all impressed, but again their lack of a cutting edge was clear for all to see.

"I thought it was another good workout after a very tough week,” reflected Nolan. “We made them work really hard in Spain and to get a lot of the players through 90 minutes tonight is another tick in the box. It’s not about results at the moment, it’s about starting to build momentum.

"We put a bit more into the players yesterday (Monday) in terms of how we want to play and what we want to do and sometimes they’ll get it wrong and other times they’ll get it right and it looks really good. We need to keep building on that.

"We’ll start coming off them in the next 10 days because they’ve worked really solidly for a good four or five weeks. Saturday is another big test and a great test and we’re pleased about that, but for me the last four and a half weeks have been very positive.”