Curle content with Orient point but feels Cobblers paid for failing to make their early dominance count

The Cobblers were a cut above their beleaguered hosts throughout the opening 45 minutes but led by only one goal at the break after Ryan Watson's excellent finish.

The momentum reversed in the second-half and eventually Orient hit back to claim a point, albeit with the help of referee Alan Young who awarded the home side a controversial late penalty.

"It's unfair to talk about the penalty decision or the referee because it was a very committed performance by two teams," said Curle.

"They're fighting to get anything out of the game but we had to do more when we got the ball.

"But it's a point away from home and you take that. I felt we had the lion's share of the game and created the better chances, especially in the first-half."

Curle made two changes for the game as Matty Warburton and Michael Harriman replaced Andy Williams and Sam Hoskins, who missed out on a place in the starting line-up for the first time this season.

"It was a team selection that I thought we could cause problems with and that's the pleasing thing about having options in the squad," Curle added.

"In the first-half I thought we dominated, we created chances and scored a goal and went 1-0 up.

"With the demands that we put on the players we should have been 2-0 up at half-time and potentially 3-0 up.

"I thought we defended quite well. We got some good blocks in but they had the ascendancy in the second-half and we couldn't get up the pitch frequently.

"But we caused them problems in the first-half and we should have been at least one more goal to the good and I think that would have changed the atmosphere in and around the stadium.

"They came out and got on the front foot and got momentum. When we had chances to get up the pitch, we didn't retain possession of the ball well enough up field in order to get us a better line of retention for our defending."