Northampton boss Kevin Nolan was delighted with his new side as they handed him a first victory thanks to Sam Hoskins’ late strike at Burton Albion.
The game had been heading for a goalless stalemate until Hoskins struck with a heavily deflected effort on 86 minutes and Nolan felt it was deserved.
“You can see the improvement in the lads over the short period of time I have been here, 13 days or so now,” he said. “We were much the better side in the first half, and we should have been at least 1-0 up going into the break, but it wasn’t to be.
“I told the lads that if we dug in and got a clean sheet that we would get another opportunity. Nik has made two fantastic saves, which you need in these battles and then you get the reward at the end with the quality, effort and resilience that they put in.”
Nolan’s side had drawn the previous two games, and the former Premier League midfielder feels that the club are stringing results together now.
“Five points over the last three games, from where we were, is massive and we can start to look forwards now,” he said.
Amongst a gritty team performance, Nolan was keen to pay tribute to his side’s long-serving and experienced match-winner.
“Let’s talk about Sam. 400 games for the club and to get his goal, its magnificent for him and it’s made it a fantastic day for the team,” Nolan said.
Burton head coach Gary Bowyer was left still searching for his first win in charge with Albion having good second-half chances to grab the points; Rumarn Burrell hitting the crossbar along with Town keeper Nik Tzanev making two excellent saves.
“We have to focus on the next game and learn from today,” Bowyer said with his side now comfortably adrift of League One safety.
“First half it looked a game too many after a hectic schedule with injuries and unavailability. We looked leggy but second half was an improvement, and the keeper makes a wonderful save from Jack Armer’s effort, Rumarn has hit the bar and there is a wonderful chance for Billy Bodin.
“It wasn’t the most attractive of games out there today. It looked like two tired sides today and at the end of it we haven’t done enough. With what they have done in the last couple of games they should have been coming into today with more confidence.
“We need to pick these lads up and get ready for next week and we need to try and get one or two in, if we can and we will be working very hard in the next couple of days to try and make that happen.”
