Nolan full of praise for new-look midfield trio as Charlton loanee impresses on debut

Taylor was thrown straight in for his debut a few days after joining on loan from Charlton Athletic and he impressed alongside fellow January signing Liam Shaw, who has also made a good start to life at Sixfields.

"I thought Terry Taylor had a fantastic game on his debut and slotted in really well alongside Liam,” said Nolan. "We've done a bit of work with Terry. He's been in a couple of days so we've had the chance to do some stuff on the training pitch, along with Liam, and I feel that's a partnership which will only get better.

"Will (Hondermarck) and Samy (Chouchane) are part of that as well and I feel I have four strong midfielders who'll keep pushing each other. It felt nice to look at the bench and feel I have more options but the boys have to keep pushing each other and keep getting fitter and fitter.

"It was nice to be working with 18 lads who are all professionals. As much as I want to promote lads from the academy, sometimes I don't want to expose them too early.”

The return of McGeehan, Town’s top scorer this season, was also a boost and he did well to last over 80 minutes despite only just coming back from nearly a month out with a groin injury.

Nolan added: "I probably left Cam out there for five or 10 minutes too long but every time I looked at him he was still working hard and that's because he's a fantastic professional and he looks after himself.

"He does the right things and I'm sure he'll be ready to go again on Tuesday. He's been out for three or four weeks but he was able to produce that performance and I know he'll be ready to go against Bolton.”