Kevin Nolan thrilled as Northampton net maiden win against Exeter

Northampton boss Kevin Nolan felt his side fully deserved their 2-0 victory over Exeter as they claimed their first win of the season.

The Cobblers had taken just one point from their first four league games, not scoring in the last three, but Ethan Wheatley thumped home inside a minute at Sixfields and that set the tone for a comfortable win.

Max Dyche side-footed in a second on 16 minutes and Exeter never really threatened a comeback.

Nolan said: “I’m delighted. We got what we deserved.

“That’s not been the case lately but if you keep doing the right things and keep believing, it’ll come. That’s what I said to the players this week and I’m really pleased with the performance.

“It was a fantastic start and a brilliant goal from Ethan and I thought we gave Exeter a lot of problems in the first half and in the end I felt it was a pretty comfortable win for us.

“We knew how Exeter would play, they’re a really good footballing side, but we contained them and their first shot on target wasn’t until the 89th minute. That’s testament to the boys and the work they are doing off the ball.

“It wasn’t perfect and a little bit of anxiety crept in but we saw it out in the second half and I think we’ve been really solid.

“We put Exeter under more pressure than previous opponents and that’s something we need to keep improving and then we need to make sure we’re taking our opportunities when they come.”

Exeter boss Gary Caldwell had no complaints after his side’s third loss of the season.

“The game was over before it started,” admitted Caldwell. “We started really poorly and gave two very bad goals away.

“We gave ourselves a mountain to climb and after that it took us too long to get going and play the type of football we wanted.

“I thought we created some good opportunities in the second half but we didn’t have enough quality in the final third so I’m hugely disappointed.

“It shows that you need the physicality and mentally to go again when you go from Tuesday to Saturday but we weren’t ready to play at the level we needed to win.

“It’s having the mentality to wake yourself up to be ready to start a game but we started really sloppily, especially out of possession.

“We knew they would be direct and we would have to stand up to their physicality but we didn’t win enough first contacts or second balls and the game became hard and it’s a really big ask when you go 2-0 down so early on.”