Nolan calls for calm and patience but admits Cobblers 'need to win' against Exeter City
Stay calm and trust the process is very much the message from Kevin Nolan to his players this week as Cobblers chase their first win of the season against Exeter City this weekend.
Only two teams in League One – Plymouth and Peterborough – have made worse starts to the season than Northampton, who have just one point and one goal from four matches.
"People can go on about stats all they like but there's only one that matters,” admitted Nolan. "You need that first win. I'm not going to hide away from that but once we get the first one, hopefully it'll set us away for the rest of the season.
"That's what I've said to the lads. We need to step up and I told them – you can't panic. It's not the time to panic. It's about taking a deep breath, looking at it, analysing it and going through the good stuff that we’ve produced and also the bits that need work.
"We were in a sticky moment last season before we hit Peterborough for four and I remember saying to the group for weeks before that game that we were going to give a team a beating because of the way we're playing.
"All of the teams we've played have started well this season and sometimes you have to put things into perspective. That's what we've spoken about this week, but now we need to start winning games. It's not unlucky. You make your own luck in football and I want to win on Saturday.”
Exeter have two wins and two defeats to start the season, and Nolan hopes the Sixfields crowd can help his players over the line.
"Exeter play nice stuff and they'll be a tough one but we are focused on ourselves and what we need to do,” he added. "The crowd were brilliant on Tuesday and I think they can see how hard the lads are working, but we need to give them wins.”