Curle: Cobblers must learn to 'kill games off' after Crawley agony

Town were well on their way to a fifth win in seven games when goals from Chris Lines and Shaun McWilliams had them 2-0 up with 20 minutes to play.

But Ashley Nathaniel-George netted within two minutes of coming on and worse was to come in stoppage-time as Joe Martin inadvertently steered the ball into his own net.

It was a harsh lesson for the Cobblers to learn but Curle says that's exactly what they will do.

"Next time we go 2-0 up, we get the third goal and show good management and kill the game off," he said. "Our attitude doesn't change and we don't spoil what we're trying to create - we accept it as a challenge.

"The mentality is growing and developing. The changing room is developing a personality and within that results are a massive part.

"But what we don't do is we don't fragment when we don't get the result that we think we deserve or we needed - we have to learn."

Lines, who both scored and missed a penalty on Saturday, was off the field when Crawley scored their last-gasp equaliser.

He added: "We had new personnel coming onto the pitch and they have to adapt to what is a 2-0 lead and try and come on and get straight into the game and realise we can't afford to concede.

"It's tough because it's a hot day and we needed fresh legs but at the same time when the formation slightly changes and different people come on they need to adapt to new roles and make sure they settle in and do their jobs."