Nolan facing tricky balancing act as Cobblers dream of Wembley
Kevin Nolan faces a tricky balancing act at AFC Wimbledon this evening as he looks to rest those players who need it, whilst also keeping alive Cobblers’ hopes of a trip to Wembley.
Northampton take on Dons in the Vertu Trophy quarter-finals at Plough Lane, where victory would put them one game away from Wembley. It would also mark the furthest the club have ever gone in the competition.
Nolan has regularly rotated his squad for EFL Trophy games this season and that will again be the case tonight, particularly given the relentless schedule. Cobblers are currently in the middle of a run of five successive Tuesday matches, meaning a number of players are in need of a breather.
"We’ve equalled the club’s best ever run in the competition but we want to go one further,” said Nolan. “And then we want to go another on further than that and give our fans a day out at Wembley.
"There’s no better place to play football than Wembley Stadium. I’ve been fortunate enough to play at some magnificent stadiums in my career but Wembley is one where you tell the kids about when you’re a bit older, so we’re taking it seriously.
"We’ve taken the competition very seriously all season and it’ll be the same again tonight. We’re going to a very tough Wimbledon side who are coming off back-to-back wins but we are going there looking to get ourselves into the next round.”
Nolan had 24 players training at Moulton on Monday, and he’s confirmed that January signings Ben Hammond, Kyle McAdam and Jake Evans will all be involved in some capacity at Plough Lane.
“We have no new injuries from the weekend,” Nolan added. “There are a few bumps and bruises here and there so we’ll manage the team and the squad, as we have done between Saturday and Tuesday games.
"There are quite a few lads who are either coming back from injury or who have played a lot of minutes and we don’t want to take them over the threshold. There’s also the lads who been sitting in the bench or in the stands who have been waiting for their opportunities.
"They’ll get their opportunities tonight and this will be their chance to put in a performance and give me a headache and show me why they should be playing every week. We want to get into the next round and hopefully the squad we pick will be able to do that.”