Curle believes his players can learn from Peterborough after derby defeat

Cobblers boss Keith Curle wants his players to learn from Peterborough United after they were beaten 2-0 by their rivals on Saturday.

Siriki Dembele was the game's outstanding player and his incisive pass teed up the opener for Nathan Thompson before Reece Brown hammered home a second late on.

Posh dominated the game and were worthy winners, something Curle did not dispute. However, Town's manager wants his side to make the most of the defeat by learning from their mistakes.

"We had enough entries into the final third but we weren't product enough and that means you need to take another pass to open up the spaces," said Curle. "That's something they did very well with good ball retention and they were also aggressive in their passing.

"We have an environment where we're not afraid to learn and develop and the players understand that. The quality of League One has not come as a shock to us because we know we'll be up against good teams this season but we're learning and we're developing and we're also improving.

"We need to keep improving and keep getting better but I have a group of players here who aren't scared of challenges and aren't scared of being told where they need to get better.

"It's part and parcel of my job to keep the players confident. The changing room doesn't hide away from challenges and we're honest in our appraisal.

"We'll have a debrief and it's easy and it's evident to see that Peterborough were slightly ahead of us but when you've got that belief in what you're trying to do and the understanding of the levels that you need to get to, you'll keep improving. There's enough in the changing room to continue our improvement."