Curle admits it was not all good from Cobblers despite Latics victory

Victory over Wigan Athletic came above all else for the Cobblers on Saturday but if they want to put more breathing space between themselves and the bottom four over the coming weeks, their next challenge must be to piece together a complete 90-minute performance.

Town were dominant for 45 minutes at the DW Stadium and deservedly led 2-0. Ryan Watson, who could have had a first-half hat-trick, has, for now, been credited with the opening goal on 13 minutes before Sam Hoskins capitalised on Michael Harriman's opportunism later in the half.

But, for the fourth successive league game, Town's performance level on Saturday took a significant and alarming turn for the worse after half-time. Instead of going for the throat, they sat off and invited pressure and allowed Wigan to grow in confidence.

Joe Garner's penalty and a header from Tom James would have rescued a point had Kyle Joseph found the net and not the inside of the post two minutes from time. Thankfully for the visitors, Caleb Chukwuemeka's first league goal was just about enough for all three points.

"There are some of the fundamentals that we need to be better at in terms of defending our box," admitted Curle. "They put a lot of balls into our box today and we didn't sort ourselves out, shape-wise and individually, and people didn't take responsibility in stopping those crosses.

"Because of that we had to change the shape and change the personnel, but we still looked an attacking threat."

Asked to explain why he felt there was such a drop off, Curle added: "There was some nerves from the players, obviously, because we know what was stake and it was an opportunity to gain three points for the football club, but we haven't got that winning habit at the moment.

"No matter what happens, when the opposition score a goal to make it 2-1, they get the impetus. We saw that when we were chasing a 2-0 deficit against Cheltenham in the play-offs last season and I keep saying that a 2-0 lead is never going to be enough to guarantee you an easy game or a victory.

"That's true whether you're chasing a game or leading a game and statistically, Wigan are a second-half team. They were open and expansive in the first-half but they score goals in the second-half and they're always a threat in the second."

Curle has been critical of referees in recent weeks but he praised Joshua Smith after the official played an excellent advantage in the build-up to Town's third goal.

"I thought the referee did a good job and managed the game very well," added Curle. "There were a few tackles, which was to be expected, but he stayed calm and his fitness levels meant he was in the right place to make the right decisions.

"This is a professional game and some of the fitness work that referees do needs to be topped up because the fitter you are, the more likely it is you're in the right place to make the right decisions."