Kevin Nolan reveals Northampton have lost out to Bradford City in transfer market this summer

The Bantams have been busy following their dramatic promotion from League Two on the final day of last season, with the likes of Stephen Humphrys, Josh Neufville, Joe Wright, Ibou Touray, Curtis Tilt and Will Swan all heading to Valley Parade.

Graham Alexander’s side started life in League One with an impressive opening day win over Wycombe Wanderers so they arrive at Sixfields this weekend full of confidence.

"Bradford have done some very good business in the summer,” said Nolan. “We were in for a couple of the players that ended up going there but obviously we weren't able to get them over the line due to finances and stuff.

"They are having a right go and fair play to them. Graham's a good manager, he knows the league really well and they will have hopes of pushing towards the play-offs with the amount of money they've spent.

"It'll be another difficult but we have to stand up and be counted and earn the right to play. I'm really looking forward to it because this is what we live for – 3pm games on a Saturday."

Nolan is demanding an improvement from Northampton’s opening day display against Wigan, adding: "We need a big reaction. I didn't think it was all bad against Wigan and there wasn't that much in the game but we conceded three goals and we didn’t make the right decisions and that’s disappointing because you need to make the most of your opportunities.

"But the biggest disappointment for me was that we didn’t show the best version of ourselves and that’s what I’ll be expecting this weekend. There were good spells in the game but now we have to put it together for the full 90 minutes.

"The reaction of the lads in training this week has been really good. They’ve seen it back on the video and they agreed with what we felt was wrong and they want to rectify it because it was a poor day for us.”