Curle confirms he had planned to take Cobblers trio off during Saints tie

Keith Curle helped get the pitch in a fit state following torrential rain before Tuesday's game.

Cobblers boss Keith Curle confirmed Nicky Adams, Danny Rose and Shaun McWilliams all came off as planned during Tuesday's 5-0 victory over Southampton U23s.

McWilliams returned from nine months out with a knee injury while Rose was handed his Cobblers debut and Adams also made his first start of the season following a calf injury.

Rose and McWilliams were replaced by Caleb Chukwuemeka and Jack Sowerby at half-time while Adams made way for Morgan Roberts nine minutes into the second-half.

"They're on a return-to-fitness programme and tonight was a chance to get minutes into them," confirmed Curle afterwards.

"You don't want to fatigue them to the point where they're not able to train on Thursday. We're mindful of that but we got the minutes into them that we needed.

"It's the same with Danny Rose and Jack Sowerby. They've not been on the grass a lot so it was important to get good tempo out of them and a good 45 minutes out of them.

"It's another step towards them being able to join the squad fully in their training programme."

The return of those players, coupled with several impressive performances on Tuesday, has left Curle with some tough selection decisions.

"What we want is that every time players put on the Northampton Town shirt, they're not only representing themselves but also what we're trying to build at the club," he added.

"If you're playing well, if you're training well and if you're adhering to what we want to create here, this is a chance to put yourself in the shop window.

"People question whether or not this competition is important, it's a game and a chance to represent this football club so yes, it's vitally important."