Cobblers 'won't dig people out' in quest to get better

Leading 2-0, Town allowed Ashley Nathaniel-George to cut inside and find the bottom corner before Joe Martin's unfortunate own goal five minutes into injury-time saw victory slip through their grasp.

Curle was disappointed by his side's defending for both goals, particularly Nathaniel-George's well-taken effort, but he insists it's not a case of 'digging people out' in their quest to improve.

"It was a good bit of skill from the lad to cut inside and he's got good technique and manoeuvres the ball well but we had given players the information - don't let him inside, don't let him inside," said the Town chief.

"But it's the same with Nicky Adams. You can watch video after video of Nicky but he can manoeuvre the ball and he can put it onto his right foot and deliver crosses into the box.

"The environment we have is not a blame culture. We identify where we can do better but we don't just dig people out and say 'it's your fault' because it's a collective effort.

"We're all disappointed and we're all frustrated but we're also all learning."

Now he's had a few days to reflect on Saturday's last-gasp heartbreak, Curle said: "There's an air of frustration in the changing room because we worked hard, we stuck to the gameplan and took our chances apart from the missed penalty.

"That gave them a lift but we weathered the storm and got on back on the front foot, but the frustration at the end is something we need to learn from.

"It could have been different. Had they taken their opening two chances and we'd have come back from 2-0 down it would have felt like a point gained.

"There's always negatives to come out of games but on Saturday I thought we could take a lot of positives out of it.

"The group is still learning, they're accepting the challenges and learning from their mistakes and overall, if we look at it as a whole week, it's seven points gained, which is a good return."