Nolan: Evans does not play like a 17-year-old
Kevin Nolan says new signing Jake Evans ‘does not play like a 17-year-old’ as the Leicester City loanee targets a home debut this weekend.
The young forward arrived on Tuesday evening and immediately made his Cobblers debut when introduced as a second half substitute during Town’s 2-1 defeat at Rotherham United.
"He doesn't look or play like a 17-year-old,” said Nolan. “He's not shy to put himself about and he looks and feels at home here. He's matured and he's very well built for a young lad and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him.
"It was good to get him on the other night but he’s only had a week with us. He can play all across the front-line. He'll probably be more wider than through the middle but we'll see. I'm delighted to get the deal over the line and I'm hoping we can add to it before the end of the window.”
Evans will be tasked with providing more creativity and threat to Northampton’s struggling attack, which has scored just three goals in the last seven league games.
"We've missed some big chances,” Nolan added. “People talk about the defensive side of it, and we’re disappointed with the goals we've conceded, but we have to get better going forwards and execute a lot better in the final third and ultimately score more goals.
"That's what I was as a player and I want to see goals going in so we have to get better on the ball. If you score goals, become a threat and do the right things in the final third, that takes a lot of pressure off your defence.
"That's what we've been working on and we'll be working on it more before the weekend and we'll stick together and keep plugging away. It was never going to be easy but we're proud of what we're doing.”