Curle reveals he gave his players a half-time 'rollocking' despite leading in Shrewsbury win

Keith Curle revealed he gave his players a big telling off at half-time despite leading 1-0 en route to their first league win of the season at Shrewsbury Town on Saturday.

Mark Marshall's well-taken goal was the difference at the break but Curle had not been impressed by the way his players surrendered the initiative to the home side.

Rekeil Pyke missed the best of several chances for Shrewsbury, denied one-on-one by Arnold, and Curle was keen to let his players know about it despite the fact they remained ahead on the scoreboard.

"I changed the shape and slightly changed the personnel as well and it gave us a platform to go and build on," said Curle. "It was a great start to the game.

"But I thought we came off it and allowed them to dominate the ball too easily and we lacked energy and I think that was a mental thing.

"I couldn't wait to get them in at half-time and it was probably the biggest rollicking some of the players would have had at half-time despite being 1-0 up.

"We were leading but I'm thinking 'it's not good enough and we're not competitive enough'. I thought we upped it slightly in the second-half but I still think there's still more to come from us."

Curle's mood would not have been improved when Shaun Whalley drilled home 10 minutes into the second-half to bring Shrewsbury level, but Cobblers responded well from there with Sam Hoskins netting the winner.

"In the second-half we showed the importance of retaining possession upfield because if you don't do that, teams will hurt you and they will manoeuvre the ball around you," Curle added.

"When they've got good technicians, they'll put the ball into areas that can hurt you and can step it up and they will be clinical.

"But I was very pleased with the attitude, the character and the application of the squad after that. We were playing away from home and we had just conceded but we dug in, we wanted to get something from the game and with the players we've got, we're always going to be a threat."