No surprises for Nolan after revealing Cobblers first tried to sign McAdam last summer

The 21-year-old, making his full Cobblers debut alongside Jake Evans, had a fine game at left wing-back, the highlight of which was his assist for Tom Eaves’ second half winner.

"It was a fantastic goal to win it and hats off to Kyle because he put a lovely ball back across for Eavesy to stick it in,” said Nolan. “I'm delighted for the two new lads who made their debuts. They've come through it unscathed and both did well. It was great to get Ben (Hammond) on at the end as well.

"I think some people thought we were just taking Kyle and Ben because it was deadline day but I've been monitoring these lads for over a year so I know what they can do. We first asked about Kyle last July but Mansfield already had a deal lined up.

"It didn't quite work out for him there but he's come into a new environment and hopefully it’s an environment he’ll thrive in. We'll help him and the good thing is that we have options to keep both of the lads beyond this season.”

Evans, a 17-year-old winger on loan from Leicester, also made his first Northampton start at Plough Lane.

"I'm delighted for Jake Evans as well,” Nolan added. "It's great when you have clubs like Leicester ringing you up saying 'can you take one of our star young players?' because they want you to nurture them and help them along.

"Jake's done really well. There's a lot of pressure on his shoulders but he's broad enough to take it and I'm excited to keep working with these lads over the next four or five months because I think they'll only get better.”