Curle explains decision to swap Morton for Oliver during Walsall defeat

Keith Curle has explained the logic behind his decision to replace two-goal man Callum Morton with Vadaine Oliver during the closing stages of Saturday's 3-2 defeat at Walsall.

Morton scored twice in the first-half, turning in Nicky Adams' low cross early on before applying a terrific first-time finish from Paul Anderson's superb pass.

He was also Town's chief goal threat in the second-half and missed two good chances at 2-1, failing to make contact on another Adams cross and then denied by a fine save from Liam Roberts.

The West Brom loanee was then replaced by Vadaine Oliver with 16 minutes to go but Curle's decision came in for some criticism after Walsall scored twice in the final 12 minutes to complete a dramatic comeback.

"I wanted to get a physical presence up front to keep the ball up there," explained Curle.

"Callum did exceptionally well in the first-half and when we had the win behind us we could turn them.

"In the second-half, we couldn't get the ball in behind their defence and he was slightly getting out-muscled.

"He probably still had our best two chances in the first half-an-hour of the second-half but then you're getting to a stage of the game where they're on the front foot.

"At that stage, when we did clear the ball, we needed to try and make it stick."