Curle hails 'bravery' of his Cobblers team as they 'stand up' to Gills

Having conceded 10 goals without reply across their past five halves of football, losing four in a row, Town snapped out of their slump with an excellent performance at the PTS Academy Stadium.

Sam Hoskins convincingly converted a penalty on the half-hour before goals from Danny Rose and Alan Sheehan either side of half-time lifted Cobblers out of the bottom four.

"We got asked some difficult questions tonight because they do play direct but we stood up to it," said Curle.

"They have some good quality, they have a physical presence and they have willing runners and want to play on the front foot so we had to stand up to them.

"We also had to make sure we were a threat when we got the ball and I thought we were.

"We coped well with their aerial bombardment and we were brave and competitive and willing to accept the challenge.

"That was pleasing because you know you're going to have to stand up against a Steve Evans team as they will try to find a weakness in you, but I thought we did very well and protected our goal very well.

"I can't really remember (Jonathan) Mitchell having much to do.

"They scored the free-kick but other than that we stood up to them and it was good to have Alan Sheehan and Shaun McWilliams back, as well as the addition of Lloyd Jones."