Tzanev cements himself as number one - but Nolan expects Burge to fight for place
Nik Tzanev cemented himself as Cobblers’ number one goalkeeper, at least in the short-term, with Saturday’s impressive display at Wycombe Wanderers – but Kevin Nolan expects his two senior goalkeepers to both fight hard for the gloves.
Burge started the first 17 league games of the season but an injury in training opened the door to Tzanev and the summer signing from AFC Wimbledon has taken his opportunity with a series of steady performances between the sticks.
With Burge back fit, the 28-year-old needed a strong performance to establish himself as Nolan’s first choice and he produced it against Wycombe, pulling off two excellent saves and generally dominating his penalty box en route to a fine clean sheet at the promotion chasers.
"Nik has been fantastic since I've come in with his kicking and everything else,” said Nolan. “He takes a lot in and I've been really impressed with him. Burgey is obviously back fit now and he’ll be waiting for his chance.
"I expect them to be pushing each other and I want to have those headaches. Nik made two fantastic saves at critical times and we know Wycombe were going to have those moments so you need your goalkeeper to step up and your defenders to make blocks and they did that.”
Nolan was delighted with his side’s performance at Wycombe, particularly out of possession, and he expects that to be the standard going forward.
He added: “There's lots of work to do but I'm really pleased with how this week has gone and I think the result shows that the work on the training pitch has paid off.
"We can still get better with the ball but I believe we can match anyone on our day. What we need to do now is be more consistent and that's why I'm testing these lads. Can we now go and do it at Bolton? That's what I expect because we'll be working to go there and get another positive result.”