Curle warns dropped players: I don't owe anything to anybody at this football club

If any player dropped from the team in recent games starts feeling sorry for themselves, they'll find sympathy from their manager in very short supply.

Keith Curle has made four changes in each of the last two matches as he searches for the most effective system and combination for his new-look squad.

Midfielder Christopher Missilou was surprisingly dropped from the squad altogether at the weekend but he bounced back in the best possible way, scoring one and creating another in Tuesday's win over Swindon.

Missilou replaced Ryan Watson for the visit of Swindon and Shaun McWilliams, Joe Martin and Steve Arnold also dropped out, while striker Harry Smith has played only 45 minutes across the past two games, with Danny Rose and Benny Ashley-Seal preferred.

"We've got players in the changing room now who are desperate to play," said Curle. "I name the team and I can see the disappointment in some of the players' faces because they haven't made the team.

"But I don't shy away from it. You get some managers who won't name the team until just before kick-off but I name my starting XI early because I want to work with the team.

"But I'm also creating an environment where there will be disappointed players and I will deal with those players because I manage disappointment and I manage unhappy players.

"I know the only way to make a player happy is to pick him but I don't owe anything to anybody at this football club. Everything they get, they have to earn."

Curle was both relieved and pleased to end Town's losing streak, but he knows one swallow does not make a summer.

"I'm under no illusions of the task ahead this season," he added. "But I've said it since I came into the club, we know where we are and we know what we're about.

"We accept the challenges. We will lose games and we will win games but we will stick together and that's the important thing."

Missilou, who headed into the net after Nicky Adams had a shot saved, and Rose, finishing calmly into the bottom corner, both scored their first goals for the club on Tuesday,

Curle added: "Chris got a rollicking because he shouldn't have been up there - he was meant to be our defensive midfield player!

"But how we played in the first-half, players are given the freedom to get on the front foot and you see opportunities to get forward and I want players to go and take it.

"That's where they can go and express themselves and I'm pleased for Danny and he will score goals. He's a good finisher and he has a good work ethic and he's integrated into the group very well."