Curle confirms Cobblers are still in the market for a striker

Keith Curle is still on the hunt for another new striker despite Benny Ashley-Seal's recent arrival from Wolves and Joe Nuttall's imminent return to fitness.

Ashley-Seal, who signed on a two-year deal last week, made his debut against AFC Wimbledon on Saturday, while Nuttall could be in the squad for Wednesday's Carabao Cup tie at Bristol City.

Academy product and teenage striker Caleb Chukwuemeka was also handed his senior debut at the weekend when introduced for the final few minutes.

However, Curle has previously stated his wish to have four senior men fighting it out for starting places at the top end of the pitch this season.

"We are still looking to bring in another striker because we want that competition for places up front," said Curle.

"We are a team that likes to play the ball forward and we want to be an attacking threat and we want to do that for 90 minutes.

"For the first two strikers that earn the shirt each week, it's a case of when they've ran the opposition ragged and when they've got goals, then we can bring on other players that can also be an attacking threat."

Nuttall was expected to at least make the bench for the visit of Dons on Saturday but he didn't quite make it.

"It's about risk and reward," Curle explained. "It would have been excellent to get him on the pitch on Saturday, whether as a sub or a starter, but it's not a sprint.

"It's a long season and we need to make sure people are fit and available and then I will have some massive headaches because we're trying to build a strong, competitive squad."

Sam Hoskins and Luka Racic did return from injury at the weekend but Curle still has six others - Nicky Adams, Harry Smith and Joseph Mills among them - on the sidelines.

"Nacho has been working extremely hard but we have a lot of trust and a lot of faith in the medical department," he added.

"Every team in this division and the division below is going to have an injury crisis at some point during the season whereby their squad gets stretched.

"At the moment, as a squad, we're stretched, but we still believe we can be competitive and I think we showed that on Saturday. We had a few players out but we were very competitive."