Curle thrilled with his players as Cobblers brush aside Cardiff

Cobblers boss Keith Curle had only good things to say about his players after their excellent 3-0 victory over Cardiff City on Saturday.

Town eased into round two of the Carabao Cup with an impressive opening-day performance as Harry Smith's first-half penalty was followed by goals for Matty Warburton and Ryan Watson after the break.

And as ever with Curle, it was the 'fundamentals' that pleased him most.

'It was a very good win and the whole of pre-season has been about rebuilding a new squad with new personnel and new characters and different skillsets," he said.

"But we haven't gone away from our fundamentals and today was an opportunity for the players to showcase the fact that they've picked up and they understand those fundamentals and believe in what we're trying to do.

"There are things we can work on and things we can improve but there were also a lot of pleasing things to come out of the game and as a first competitive fixture of the season, you have to say well done to the changing room.

"We do a lot of work on the basics of the game and I thought we did them very well today.

"The players are attentive, they know what's needed and their application was excellent. Once we do the basics, we can be more creative when we get into the final third, but as a foundation, it was very pleasing."