Curle 'loved the attitude' of players and fans and says he doesn't regret taking the attacking option

Cobblers boss Keith Curle has no regrets over taking the attacking option when his team were down a man during defeat to Mansfield Town on Saturday.

Trailing by a goal and with one man less for over 80 minutes, Curle opted against keeping things tight and instead threw caution to the wind, bringing on another striker in Harry Smith at half-time.

Cobblers played in a 3-3-3 shape in the second-half and had a few half chances to get back into the game but, in the end, their attacking approach backfired when Willem Tomlinson scored on the counter-attack to kill the contest.

"It was important to get into half-time 1-0," said Curle. "Because then you have a decision to make - do you want to get men behind the ball and let them dominate possession and know you can cause them problems from set-pieces?

"Or do you put an extra centre-forward on and go for it? That's the mindset we have in the changing room. I want to win games and we did cause them problems.

"We had to be brave and go two v two, three v three at the back because we wanted to get a goal and we wanted to commit people forward.

"We had a couple of chances, a couple of half chances and they were scurrying every time we put the ball into their box. We just needed that ball to land for us "

There was also another aspect of his side's performance that pleased Curle, who added: "I loved the attitude, not only of the players but also the supporters because they wanted us to get something out of the game.

"Even when it went to 2-0, the supporters were still there with us and there were still boxes that we ticked, which is important.

"The sending off kills it and the decision-making for both goals are disappointing but there are still positives.

"We're still in a good place and still in the play-offs and we have a good work ethic about us."