Curle happy to pinch a point after Cobblers recover from out-of-sorts first-half

Mixed day: Keith Curle admitted his side weren't at their best on Saturday. Picture: Kirsty Edmonds

Town deservedly trailed 2-1 at the break after Jake Taylor and Jayden Stockley scored either side of Billy Waters, but the visitors improved in the second-half and left it late to salvage a point, Andy Williams scoring in the final minute of normal time.

"In the end I was pleased but there's still a lot more to come from this group of players," said Curle, whose side are now unbeaten in four league games.

"It was another battling performance and we showed good attention to detail with the set-piece to earn a point at the end.

"I was disappointed with the two goals in the first-half because I felt we looked a bit tentative at the start of the game and there was a lack of aggression.

"I don't know whether that was down to the recent sending offs or some players being on three and four yellow cards, but I thought we were half a yard short getting into some of the challenges."

Curle's disappointment with Northampton's first-half performance led him to making two changes at the break as Ash Taylor and Shay Facey replaced Hakeem Odoffin and Jordan Turnbull.

"We just wanted different dynamics and that was it," he explained. "It was nothing against Jordan or Hakeem, who did well, but sometimes you need different dynamics on the pitch and we had that.

"The two lads that came on, Ash and Shay, got up to speed quickly and gave a good 45 minutes to help us get on the front foot, and it wasn't just those two.

"We were more aggressive in the second-half, we had better movement up front and we able to retain possession. In the first-half I didn't think put the ball in the right areas with consistency or quality and that would have enabled us to get up the pitch."