Curle challenges dropped players to prove him wrong and win back their places

Curle dropped first-choice goalkeeper David Cornell in one of five changes to his side for last Saturday’s 3-0 victory at Grimsby Town.

Lloyd Jones, Chris Lines and Michael Harriman also missed out while Paul Anderson, who started 12 of 14 games in 2020 prior to Saturday's game, didn’t even make the bench.

Curle confirmed Anderson was not injured while he also felt it was the ‘right time’ to select Steve Arnold over Cornell, who has more clean sheets than any other goalkeeper in League Two this season.

But with so many options to pick from and only 10 games left, Curle says all players, whether regular starters or not, have an opportunity to change his mind.

“We’ve got players coming back to fitness and those players that played on Saturday, they know that they’ve got to be on it,” he said. “Because if they’re not, they won’t be involved and that’s the challenge to all of the players.

“Some are angry and some are disappointed at not being involved or only being on the bench but I will change it if I think that change that will make a positive difference.

“They’ve got to give me the best opportunity which means train to the maximum and so far the training has been excellent.

“We’re training on the pitch at the stadium and the environment we’re creating is very good and the players are switched on.”

Alan McCormack came through an hour at Grimsby, his first start since Boxing Day.

“I was going to bring him off at half-time but I thought he had another 15 minutes in him,” said Curle.

“The advice you get and the data you get, I probably slightly went against that on Saturday because the format was to give him 45 minutes.

“But I just had a feeling we needed another 15 minutes out of him and Macca will always give us everything that he’s got.”