Kevin Nolan welcomes set-piece goal that kickstarted comfortable Northampton win

Northampton boss Kevin Nolan praised striker Tom Eaves for his brilliant headed opener as Town won 3-0 at struggling Plymouth.

Second-half goals from Eaves and substitutes Elliott List and Jordan Willis enabled the Cobblers to climb to 14th in League One.

Tom Cleverley’s Argyle – reduced to 10 when top scorer Lorent Tolaj saw red in the 65th minute – remain second bottom following a fifth loss in six league games.

Nolan beamed: “I am delighted. We expected Plymouth to come out firing first half.

“And it was about trying to calm the place down, trying to calm the fans down, them down and us down as well.

“I felt that we handled it well but we could have done it with a little bit more finesse when we turned the ball over.

“I think at times we turned the ball over a little too quickly and a little too cheaply in the first half.

“Managing to get in at half-time 0-0 was really important.

“I spoke to the lads at half-time and explained where we could hurt them.

“As the game went on, we showed that and I am really pleased with the outcome and the execution of some of the goals, which we have been working really hard on not just the last couple of weeks but months.

“To finally score from a set-piece as well was nice after all the work we put into them.

“It’s a big thing getting the ball out wide and we are always talking about early crosses and putting them in the right areas as well.

“I was delighted with Tom’s goal. I was right behind it and watching it loop in and nestle in the back of the net was great to see.”

Argyle boss Cleverley was frustrated with how his side responded to falling behind.

He said: “A game of two halves. They capitalised on their good half and we didn’t.

“If you had told me at half-time the game finishes 3-0 to Northampton when they had no chances on our goal, no shots on target – even with how bad things have been going – I wouldn’t have believed you.

“We’ve not managed to deal with setbacks and at 1-0 we either lose confidence as a group or lose our heads and today we did both.

“So a really disappointing second half and didn’t have the quality to finish off all our good play in the first and that is the summary of the game.

“Football is not all rosy all the time, it’s about going 1-0 down and rolling your sleeves up and pushing forward. But we have not had the capacity to do that this season.

“All our games we have gone behind we have lost.”