Kevin Nolan picks out 'absolutely excellent' Cobblers man after Peterborough draw

The 22-year-old returned for only his second league start in the last seven games when selected at left-back. Although it’s not his natural position, the former Forest man produced a terrific display, strong both defensively and going forward, and he was namechecked unprompted by his manager afterwards.

Having switched to a 4-2-3-1 against Port Vale last Tuesday, Nolan stuck with the same system for Posh’s visit but Perkins was selected at left-back instead of the unavailable Nesta Guinness-Walker, while Michael Forbes replaced Max Dyche in the heart of defence.

"We went with a bit of balance with Forbesy on the left side and Elliott Moore on the right,” Nolan explained. “And I thought Jack Perkins was absolutely excellent at left-back.

"Left-back is not his position, he's a central midfielder by trade, but when we went to watch him play for Forest last year we saw he can play all different roles. He can play higher up, he can play in midfield and he can play at left-back and I thought he was excellent.

"It says it all that they had to take off their player against him. Peterborough have some very talented wide players but when they're being taken off after 60, 70 minutes, you’ve done your job and now it's moving onto the next one because they bring another one on.

"I'm very pleased for Jack because he's a great kid. We brought another two from Forest in Kyle McAdam and Ben Hammond in January and I expect them to make a similar impact in the next six months and beyond.

"But I can't fault any of these lads. We huffed and puffed a bit on Tuesday and it quite didn't fall for us but we have to keep believing in what we are. I'm really pleased for all the boys because they took a bit of a battering in the week and they responded.

“What we have to do now is to take this, build on it and build a bit of momentum going into the final few weeks of the season.”