Curle confirms Cobblers are looking at free agents

Manager Keith Curle has confirmed the Cobblers have room to manoeuvre in the free agent market after the transfer window closed last week.

Curle signed 11 players during the summer but could dip into the free agent market to strengthen his squad further, particularly if he wants to add defensive cover. Injuries may also force his hand with Joseph Mills, Scott Pollock and Joe Nuttall ruled out for the long-term.

There are more free agents available than normal at this time of year due to the new League One salary cap of £2.5million, plus the recently-introduced limit on squad sizes.

"We're always watching and we're always looking because there are some good players still not attached to clubs," said Curle.

"There are players who have a lot of experience and have played a good amount of games previously but they have fallen foul of the circumstances with the salary cap and the squad size.

"That's had an impact in League One and League Two and there's no room for some players to go and get game-time so we've got one eye on who's available."

Meanwhile, Curle, speaking at his pre-match press conference before Town host Charlton, offered some further reflections on his side's 2-1 win over Swindon in midweek.

"We're all in this business to win games," he added. "Some people might say that, had we got a point against Plymouth and then drawn against Swindon, it would have been two points gained.

"But whatever the formation, whatever the personnel, whatever the game, we try to win every game and we've picked up three points from the last two games.

"I think we deserved more from Plymouth and we earned the win over Swindon with some dogged defending. They changed their shape, they changed their formation and they put more men forward so we had to sit in and I thought we defended our box very well.

"You've got to have the right mentality to do that because although they had dominance of the ball, they weren't hurting us."