Cobblers players 'enjoying it' as they relish league one challenge

Spirits have certainly been raised at the PTS Academy Stadium after an improved run of league results.

Tuesday night's hard-fought 1-0 win over promotion hopefuls Fleetwood Town made it three matches unbeaten followed a battling 1-1 draw at Rochdale and an impressive 3-1 win at Burton Albion.

They have lost just one of their past six league one fixtures, to Acrington Stanley, and claimed 11 points out of a possible 18 to see them rise to 14th in the table, five points clear of the relegation zone.

When you take into account Town only managed to claim seven points from their first nine league games of the season, you can understand why the mood has been lifted.

"We are enjoying it," admitted Curle ahead of Saturday's clash with another side with promotion ambitions, Doncaster Rovers.

"We are enjoying working hard, and I have to say credit to the players.

"Every week I am giving them different scenarios, different issues and different problems.

"Every team we play now has different threats in different areas, we respect that, and the players are taking on board the information.

"They are identifying good players, good passages of play and good combinations with certain teams and are saying 'we need to stop this, and this is how we are going to stop it'.

"The players are taking it all on board and are accepting the challenge. They know they are coming up against good players, and if you stand off of them they can hurt you.

"They are not scared, they are not fearful of what the opposition can do, they are just saying 'yo are not doing that to me', and that is the environment we are trying to create in that changing room."

If the Cobblers were to beat Doncaster on Saturday then they would move level on points with Darren Moore's men, who were beaten 2-1 at Hull City on Wednesday night.

That was Rovers' first league defeat since going down by the same score at Plymouth Argyle back on October 27.