Curle hails his players for their 'attitude and application' after Newport win

Cobblers boss Keith Curle was full of praise for his players and hailed their 'attitude and application' after Saturday's 2-0 victory over Newport County.
Keith CurleKeith Curle
Keith Curle

County, sitting second in League Two, arrived at the PTS without a league defeat to their name all season, but they were barely given a sniff by the excellent hosts throughout the afternoon.

Town took command as early as the fifth minute when Andy Williams scored his fourth of the season, the first goal Newport had conceded since the opening day of the campaign.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

And they were picking the ball out of their net for a second time with 18 minutes to go after Sam Hoskins finished off a slick move to secure back-to-back home victories.

"The result and the performance started on Monday morning," said Curle. "I thought we gave a decent enough performance at Bradford away last week but there were things we could work on.

"As a follow-up to the win over Plymouth in our last home game, it was pleasing enough and it all started when we had a meeting on Monday.

"We identified the areas we did well against Bradford and areas we can do better and we highlighted the challenge that faced us and the work ethic, the application and the attitude from the players, from Monday through to today, has got us that result.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Everyone was switched on. I gave the players a challenge because these (Newport) will try and bully you, try and find a weakness and try and find somebody who's prepared to go on the back foot too easily.

"You need to stand up them and you match their endeavour and match their willingness and then play at the right times and I thought we did that - we earned the right to play.

"We were disciplined, we were solid, we were brave and we earned the right to play."