Curle frustrated by Mansfield's antics and calls for refs to 'understand the game' better

One of the several brawls during Saturday's heated affair... Picture: Pete Norton

Cobblers boss Keith Curle believes referees need to have a better 'understanding of the game' after being frustrated by the antics of some Mansfield Town players during Saturday's 2-1 defeat.

Town were beaten for the sixth time in eight games after a bad-tempered and feisty contest at the PTS as the struggling Stags took advantage of Sam Hoskins' early red card.

Danny Rose scored from the spot and Willem Tomlinson netted in the second-half before Harry Smith scored a late consolation.

Curle tends not to speak about referees in post-match interviews but he couldn't help himself on Saturday after emotions boiled over on more than one occasion.

He referenced one incident in particular when Mansfield goalkeeper Aidan Stone went down holding his head. Referee Peter Wright stopped play with Town on the attack, only for Stone to shoot back to his feet when hit by the ball.

"We've found a new miracle cure for their goalkeeper at least," quipped Curle. "The ball comes into the box, he goes down and he's absolutely poleaxed, the ball gets fired at him and he jumps up like a spring chicken!

"Excellent - we've found a miracle for a knock!"

It wasn't the only example of a Mansfield player going down holding his head while Cobblers were on the attack.

"It seems like every time they went down they were clutching their heads," added Curle.

"It gives the referee a decision to make - does he stop play? Does he not stop play? That's where you need a good understanding of the game.

"You should be able to see if there's contact with somebody's head and when someone just goes down and then rolls around holding their head.

"Teams are going to come away from home and they want to break play up, they want to stop play, they want there to be not passages of us having dominance and having ascendancy.

"The best way to stop that is by falling over and holding your head and breaking the game up, breaking the play and stopping us to getting on the front foot."