Curle takes 'lots of positives' from Vale defeat but accepts Cobblers 'need to be better'

The Cobblers boss was pleased with many aspects of Town's display against Vale, particularly during their dominant second-half showing when they were three times denied by excellent goalkeeping from Scott Brown.

Brown's best stop came from Vadaine Oliver's close-range volley, and with David Worrall converting one of few chances at the other end, Cobblers were left empty-handed.

"We analyse every game whether we win, lose or draw and looking at the data and the analysis we collected, there were lots of positives," said Curle.

"We hit a lot of targets in terms entries into the final third, balls into the box, numbers in the box and set-pieces movements.

"I think we had 33 crosses going into the box and 11 set-piece deliveries and our movement was good but we just didn't get that final contact which we'll work on.

"Ultimately the first and last stat we look at is the scoreline but we can still take positives from it."

Despite feeling positive though, Curle insisted his side must improve further and not bemoan bad luck.

"We take Saturday's result on the chin and we don't walk around saying that things didn't go our way," he added.

"We didn't do enough and that's the challenge for the changing room - if we don't win, we didn't do enough.

"I'm not really a believer in 'one of those days' or being 'unlucky' because this is our work and we need to be better and we will continue the upward curve we're on and the improvement we're making. If we do lose, we learn from it.

"We're nowhere near the finished article and we know and accept that. At least we finished the game with 11 players on the pitch - that's a positive!"