Curle warns Cobblers can't 'pick and choose' which games they win ahead key clash with Rochdale

Cobblers boss Keith Curle has warned that his side cannot afford to 'pick and choose' which games they win ahead of another key clash with Rochdale this evening.

Town are 16th after 13 games this season with all four of their wins so far coming against teams currently below them in the table: Shrewsbury Town, Wigan Athletic, Burton Albion and Swindon Town.

Their other two points were earned from draws against AFC Wimbledon (12th) and MK Dons (17th), but they have lost all six matches versus teams in the top 10.

If that trend continues, it makes tonight's game at 20th-placed Rochdale a big one given Town follow it with a number of fixtures against teams above them in the table.

Curle does not see it that way though, saying: "I don't think we can pick and choose what games we win. The mindset and the mentality in the group is that we think we can win every game and we can cause every team problems.

"Different teams give us different challenges and we respect that in how we set up and how we approach every game, but we're nowhere near at a level whereby we can decide when we perform and when we get results.

"I think even in some of the games where we've had negative results, it could have been different with some key moments in those games. We've still had chances to change the scoreline in games against teams at the top of the division and goals change games and goals change the mentality of players.

"Things change quickly in this league. You're one week away from being a good manager and a good team and a good team but then likewise, a couple of negative results and you're a bad team and a bad manager.

"But we've got our mentality and we know who we are and what we're about and players have bought into that. And it's the same for every team - confidence comes from winning games."

Cobblers could climb as high as 13th with three points this evening, but they could also drop into the relegation zone with a defeat.

"The result on Saturday came from the foundation of being solid and working in unison and that's our starting point," Curle added. "If we get that right, we know we can be creative and score goals.

"We're able to hurt teams on transition and we can score from set-pieces, but the starting point is being difficult to beat and we're very respectful of the opposition.

"Rochdale are a good team. They have good technicians in their side and they have a threat up front so we have to respect them."