Curle not concerned by squad depth and backs young players to step up during busy period

Cobblers boss Keith Curle is not concerned by the depth of his squad going into a run of five games in 15 days, saying he has faith in the club’s young players to step up and fill the void when necessary.
Keith Curle and Scott PollockKeith Curle and Scott Pollock
Keith Curle and Scott Pollock

Town host Morecambe on Saturday, then go to Leyton Orient next Tuesday before they entertain Derby County in the FA Cup on Friday, which is followed by another two league games in quick succession.

Curle currently has only two out-and-out strikers available but he insists there’s no rush to make signings this month and has trust in the club’s youngsters.

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“We’ve still got attacking options and we’ve still got players in the building who’ve not had the game-time that they require,” said Curle.

“We got Morgan (Roberts) on the pitch on Saturday. It was a slightly unfamiliar role but he gave us that energy and that youthfulness with the dynamics that he’s got.

“Matty Warburton is another player who we’ve got.

“He’s a goalscoring, attacking midfielder player stroke striker and it was good for him to get some minutes.

“There’s still more development to come from some of the younger players as well and I think coming into this period of games now there will be an opportunity, if merited and if earned, for those young players to get game-time.”

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This next fortnight is a crunch period in Town’s season but Curle's focus, for now, is ‘totally and utterly’ on Saturday’s visit of second-bottom Morecambe.

He added: “The pleasing thing is we accept one challenge at a time and we don’t overload the players.

“There’s obviously forward-thinking and forward-planning but we know the schedule we’ve got ahead of us, playing Saturday, Tuesday, Friday, Tuesday, Saturday.

“Every game has got something on it and has got a value to us but we focus on the immediate task at hand so we don’t look ahead to Leyton Orient or Derby County.

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“Our focus is totally and utterly on Morecambe and the players are happy with that because they understand every game has different challenges for different individuals.

"We'll have a gameplan for the team and a certain structure and certain things we want individuals to do within that game so our format in terms of how we prepare doesn't change, whether we're playing Morecambe in the league or Derby in the cup.

"How we prepare the players, in our opinion, is the right way."