Cobblers wanted to show 'respect and support' for Black Lives Matter by taking a knee

Cobblers players were unanimous in their desire to show 'respect and support' for the Black Lives Matter movement by taking a knee when Thursday's play-off game against Cheltenham Town kicked off.

As with the two Premier League fixtures on Wednesday, players and officials from both teams kneeled on one knee for 10 seconds when the game kicked off.

Keith Curle, one of just six BAME managers in England's top four tiers, says his players were offered the opportunity to take a knee and show solidarity with the BLM the previous day and their response was overwhelming.

He now hopes football can be used as a driving force to tackle racism.

"It's a powerful message," he said. "Both football clubs had conversations about it and agreed to do it.

"The question was given to the players in unison - did they feel that they wanted to show their support and their continued support for it and both sets of players said yes.

"It's now got to have a meaning and an understanding and an education and all that is growing. Football can be used as a vehicle and that's fantastic."

Defender Jordan Turnbull added: "It was something we wanted to do. We've seen it in the Premier League and it's somehing we spoke about before the game on Thursday.

"We were in training and everyone was extremely keen to do it because we really wanted to show our respect and our support towards the BLM."