Nolan gets the right response from his players ahead of Mansfield clash
Kevin Nolan has seen a positive reaction from his players in training this week and he’s expecting more of the same when they face Mansfield at Sixfields tomorrow (12.30pm kick-off).
Nolan was deeply unimpressed by his side’s efforts in the first round of the FA Cup last weekend and he made no attempt to hide his frustrations when speaking to the press afterwards. However, speaking a few days on, the Town boss was more measured and upbeat.
"I’m still disappointed with how we presented ourselves because that wasn’t us but credit to Oldham,” he said. “When you strip everything back, they had nearly 1,000 more league games in their team than we had in our starting line-up and that came into it.
"There are no excuses because we didn’t turn up, we didn’t match them and we lost the game and we’re out, which is so disappointing, but what I’ve spoken to the lads about is that we have to learn from it.
"They had to watch it back this week and it’s cringey, I remember that as a player, but we have to learn and learn quickly because we have a lot of young lads in our dressing room and we’ve also got lads who have been around and they need to help each other.
"The communication and being there for each other is important in these moments because it’s gone now and we’ve got to dust ourselves down and look ahead to another tough one. If we turn up like we did last week, it’ll end the same way.”
Nolan has been pleased with how his players have reacted in training this week as they prepare for Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off against the in-form Stags at Sixfields.
"What I’ve asked the lads for is a reaction and I’ve had a really positive reaction in the last 24 hours and I’m expecting more of that at the weekend,” Nolan added. "A few felt sorry for themselves because they don’t like getting beat and you want to look at someone else instead of yourself but we’ve all had to look at ourselves in the mirror this week and that includes me and my staff.
"What we have to do is keep believing in what we’re trying to do and I’m hoping it was just one of those one-offs but the only way we can prove that is by going out there and delivering at the weekend. I felt for the fans at Oldham and they were rightly unhappy with us but we have to prove to them we can respond and we can react and we want to give our supporters something to cheer about and smile about at the weekend.”