Nolan laments poor first half after Wimbledon defeat

Cobblers were second best all over the pitch in the opening 45 minutes and they could count themselves fortunate that it wasn’t more than one after Callum Maycock’s 10th-minute finish

The visitors improved after the break and Jake Evans brought three saves out of Dons goalkeeper Joe McDonnell, but Town were unable to find the net for a 16th time this season and therefore slumped to another defeat. It’s now just one win in 16.

"It’s obviously very tough to take,” said Nolan. “The reality is that we weren’t good enough in the first half and that’s why we had to change something quite quickly because otherwise the game would have got away from us.

"I thought that settled us, although it wasn’t great, and then at half-time we gave them a bit more instruction but too many of the players were off it and it didn’t allow us to build or put us in a place where we were last week against Peterborough.

"We made their goalkeeper make saves in the second half, which was better, and he ended up getting man of the match and that says a lot, but the grim reality is that it’s another defeat and the players can’t feel sorry for themselves.

"We’ve just knocked another game off, which is disappointing because even a point keeps you ticking along, but we have to roll our sleeves up now and we have a week to work towards Burton next weekend.”