Curle gives team news update and reveals he's already picked his starting XI for first leg

Cobblers boss Keith Curle has already settled on the starting line-up that will take to the field against Cheltenham Town in the play-off semi-final first leg on Thursday evening.

The Cobblers have been training for nearly three weeks in preparation for a quickfire League Two promotion shoot-out alongside Colchester United, Exeter City and the Robins.

And despite it being more than 48 hours until Cheltenham visit the PTS Academy Stadium, Curle already knows who will be tasked with the duty of helping the Cobblers gain an advantage ahead of Monday's trip to Whaddon Road.

"It's a difficult job but the starting XI has been picked and now we work on the fundamentals and make sure that everyone is on the same page leading up to the game," he said.

"In the last couple of days, every player has had a role to play. They're eager to learn, they're eager to listen and they're taking on board the information."

Although they have trained at full throttle over the past couple of weeks, Curle has a full squad to choose from.

"They've come through unscathed," he added. "We've got a squad of 24 players that have been training right from day one.

"They've gone through the whole testing process and they've gone through the whole training process, which is very pleasing.

"A few players have been rested from a couple of sessions but that was purely us being mindful of their fatigue levels because we've been working hard and we don't shy away from that."