Northampton boss Kevin Nolan hailed his players for their spirit and character after they beat Stevenage 3-1 for a first league win of 2026.
Jamie Reid hit back after Michael Forbes had given the Cobblers the lead at Sixfields, but Tom Eaves scored in first-half stoppage time.
Stevenage piled on the pressure in the second half, hitting a post and having another effort cleared off the line, but Sam Hoskins headed in late on to bring Northampton’s nine-game winless league run to an end.
“It was a good win and a deserved win,” said Nolan. “I thought we matched the performance against Reading last week but today we put the ball in the net and that was the difference.
“I’m obviously not too happy with the goal we conceded but now isn’t the time for that. Now is the time for praising these lads because it can be difficult to get over the line when you haven’t won in a while.
“I thought the boys were brilliant. We were always going to be under the pressure at 2-1 and we had to suffer but my word, they showed they’ve got spirit, determination, togetherness in spades.
“There were some fantastic saves and blocks and headers off the line and all of that type of stuff is what you need if you’re going to be a successful side.
“All the subs came on and contributed as well and I thought, to a man, they were all excellent. We could have been better on the ball but I’m absolutely delighted, more for the players than myself.”
Stevenage are now ninth in League One, seven points from the play-offs.
“The game was a battle from the start,” said boss Alex Revell. “We conceded a really poor goal just after we missed a glorious chance to go 1-0 up.
“We get ourselves back in the game and we’re in control and then we score a perfectly good goal that’s chalked off for offside.
“We then have control of the ball in the middle of our half but we give it away, they turn it over and get a penalty and go 2-1 up and it’s all from a mistake.
“I felt we dominated for large parts in the second half and there were two really big moments where we have two great chances but miss them both and then we give away a poor goal when chasing the game at the end.
“It’s a really, really poor result but I thought we did more than enough to get something from the game, certainly in the second half.
“But you can’t expect to win any game if you miss chances and give goals away.
“That’s nine goals conceded in our last three away games and that’s unacceptable.”
