Kevin Nolan oversaw defeat in his first game as Northampton Town boss after a 4-1 loss at Reading.

Harvey Knibbs, Sam Smith, Charlie Savage and Mamadi Camara scored the goals for the Royals, who got their first win under recently appointed boss Noel Hunt to move into the play-offs.

Tom Eaves had scored a goal back for the Cobblers between Reading’s third and fourth goals, but there was no resisting the Royals for Northampton, who slipped to a third straight defeat.

Northampton remain one place above the relegation zone, with the Cobblers two points ahead of Crawley Town and four clear of Cambridge United after both lost. The team face a big relegation six pointer away at Shrewsbury in their final game of 2024 on Sunday (29/12).

The Boxing Day trip to the Select Car Leasing Stadium gave Northampton fans a first look at new boss Nolan, who was confirmed as Jon Brady’s successor as manager 3 days earlier.

But the Cobblers made a bad start as they fell behind in Berkshire after five minutes, as Knibbs volleyed in from a tight angle after Northampton failed to clear from a Reading free-kick.

Northampton’s best opportunity for an equaliser saw Jon Guthrie have a header cleared off the line, but the Cobblers largely struggled to get opportunities to equalise.

Just before the half-hour mark, Reading made it 2-0. Smith had just missed a chance, but the striker would receive Lewis Wing’s through-pass and beat Nik Tzanev to double the home side’s lead.

Northampton had a few half-chances to try to get a goal back, but nothing quite fell their way before a 75th minute third for the hosts.

That was scored by Charlie Savage, as the midfielder placed a fine strike from outside the box into the bottom corner.

The visitors would grab a goal in the final ten minutes, as Eaves was able to bundle the ball over the line to cut the deficit to 3-1 and grab Nolan his first goal as Cobblers boss.

But any hopes of a comeback quickly dissolved as six minutes later, Camara turned the ball in from Andre Garcia’s set-up work to give Reading a fourth.

That meant no points for the Cobblers ahead of their big trip to Shropshire to face dropzone rivals Shrewsbury in their final game of 2024, before Northampton welcome Stevenage on New Year’s Day in Nolan’s first home match in charge.