Kevin Nolan sees positives despite Northampton’s loss to Lincoln

Northampton boss Kevin Nolan insisted there were a lot of positives to come out of his side’s performance despite their 1-0 defeat to Lincoln on Saturday.

The Cobblers had more possession, territory and shots in a tight game at Sixfields but they failed to score for the third home game in a row, with Tendayi Darikwa’s first-half goal proving decisive.

“I thought we were pretty dominant throughout the first half but they hit us with a goal and it’s a poor one from our perspective,” said Nolan.

“There were some little misjudgements from us and we were punished and that’s what I’ve said to the lads because that is the difference today. There’s not really much in the game.

“From where we’ve been all season and to where we are now, I’m pretty pleased with the output from the lads and I thought there were a lot of positives to come out of the game.

“Unfortunately, we give away the goal at the end of the first half and then we didn’t put them under enough pressure in the second half. We had opportunities but we couldn’t find the quality when we needed it and I just felt we panicked a bit and made some wrong decisions.

“Overall, I’m gutted and disappointed about the result but I see positives and we’ll keep working and it’ll start coming together.”

The win was Lincoln’s first in any competition for nearly a month.

“It was a tough game but we knew it would be,” said Imps boss Michael Skubala.

“They look to hit the big man (Tom) Eaves and play off that and those type of football matches are never pretty.

“You have to come here and wait for your moments and I thought the goal we scored was a great moment in the game. We got on the ball, switched it and got in behind them.

“We knew it would be a bit attritional but we stood up to it right until the end and I thought the back three were brilliant.

“We were solid, we were resilient and we were structured and we said that if we can come here and keep a clean sheet, we have enough to score. It was never going to be clean but today is about the win.

“These games are about landing on the second balls and being calm. I don’t think either team was able to calm it down but then there’s the moment of class where we play a bit and it opened up for us.

“We’re really pleased because it’s all about winning at the moment.”