Too early for 'staying up' chants, says Cobblers boss Nolan

Northampton have given their survival hopes a double boost in the last 10 days or so by first beating Huddersfield 3-2 at Sixfields and then winning 1-0 on the road to Mansfield.

That most recent result led to supporters chanting ‘we are staying up’ but there are still 16 fixtures to go this season and with many rival teams having at least one game in hand, Nolan says the job is far from done.

He said: "It does my head in when the fans sing 'we are staying up'! I don't know why and I'm not having a go because they were fantastic but we've got so many games left and there's a lot of the season still to go. If we had two games to go, then fair enough! But there's a third of the league to go.

"But the fans were brilliant and they've been brilliant since I came in. The wind was blowing right into them and they must have been freezing but I'm delighted that they are going home with three points."

On the fans, match-winner Cameron McGeehan added: "It's freezing cold and it's Friday night but we had a great following behind us and I’m just pleased we were able to give them three points. They really helped us get over the line and the celebrations at the end were great.”

McGeehan’s second half goal ensured an earlier missed penalty from Sam Hoskins did not matter, although Cobblers did have to survive numerous anxious moments in the final 20 minutes.

"We could have made it easier for ourselves,” admitted Nolan. “Obviously Sam's missed a penalty but I just loved the reaction of the lads. In adversity you have to react in the right way and I thought we did.

"He missed a penalty, everyone expected him to score, and all of a sudden it changes in seconds but I thought the players were very calm and very collected and I was delighted with that.”