Curle feels his players have got 'carried away with themselves' after FA Cup run

Keith Curle believes Cobblers' grand day out at Derby County in the FA Cup has made some of his players 'think they're better than they actually are' following a fourth straight defeat in all competitions.

Town beat Burton Albion in the third round of the FA Cup in early January before holding Championship outfit Derby to a goalless draw in front of the live television cameras.

That earned them a replay at Pride Park and they produced another spirited performance before eventually going down 4-2.

And that defeat appears to have hampered their league form. They've lost three on the bounce since, including Saturday's second-half horror show at Walsall.

Leading 2-0 at half-time, Cobblers missed opportunities to kill the contest in the second 45 minutes and conceded three times, including a 93rd minute winner.

"If you can't go and get another goal, you don't allow teams to put balls into your box and if you do, you clear them but at the minute we're not doing it," said Curle.

"Whether that's a hangover a little bit from the Derby game where players go to a nice stadium and play against the Wayne Rooneys and play against household names and they get a little bit carried away with themselves.

"They start thinking that they're better than what we actually are and we don't do the basics.

"In the second-half on Saturday it was about doing the basics and we didn't do them."

Midfielder Ryan Watson says the FA Cup is not playing on his mind, saying: "I don't think the boys are thinking about it at all.

"We started brilliantly and scored the two goals and I'm not sure if it we just didn't get going or what but we'll have to work harder and have a look at ourselves after the second-half performance.

"We've got 13 games left and I don't see why we can't go on another good run."