Nolan to look into 'really poor stat' that 'shouldn't happen'

Northampton have not won in the league at home on a Tuesday since October 2023 – coincidentally a 3-1 win over Saturday’s visitors Reading – and their last victory in any Tuesday league game came at Charlton last season, nearly 15 months ago. In 2024/25, their Tuesday league games have ended 2-4 (Bolton home), 1-1 (Stockport away), 2-1 (Lincoln away), 2-1 (Wigan away), 2-0 (Stevenage away), 3-1 (Bolton away), 1-2 (Barnsley home), 1-1 (Stockport home), 0-2 (Rotherham home). That’s just two points from nine games.

Cobblers have not been helped by a persistently long injury list, which has limited the ability for either Nolan or previous manager Jon Brady to rotate during busy periods, but the current boss believes there’s more to it.

Nolan said: "The last two home games have been quite similar. What I haven’t been happy about is the goals and chances we’ve given away but a big factor has been that we've lost a lot of players after a Saturday game who then can’t play on a Tuesday.

"We haven’t won on a Tuesday night for a long time and that’s something we have to look at and find a remedy for and find it quickly because it’s something which shouldn’t happen. It’s a really poor stat on our behalf and we need to get better at it and improve.

"It’s a quick turnaround between games and we have to manage players because they’re all in different places fitness-wise, but they are applying themselves really well. We just need to find a bit of consistency.”

Unlike visitors Reading, Cobblers do not have to worry about a quick turnaround this week having not played on Tuesday. The Royals were one of a number of League One teams in action as they won 3-1 at bottom club Shrewsbury to return to the top six.

"Noel Hunt has done a great job with all the off-field stuff,” said Nolan. “Sometimes that can galvanise you as a team and it brings everyone together and he's done an unbelievable job. They had another fantastic win in the week but we need to make sure we're high energy and match them, and hopefully they'll be a little bit tired!”