Curle welcomes 'selection dilemmas' after hailing 'fantastic' attitude of his players

Curle is spoilt for choice in several positions but especially in central midfield with Alan McCormack making his return on Saturday and Scott Pollock also impressing off the bench.

Ryan Watson, who had to be withdrawn with a head injury, Paul Anderson and Chris Lines started against Exeter while James Olayinka is not far off being available for selection.

The performances of each of the back three and another clean sheet also means centre-back Scott Wharton, if fit, is not guaranteed a starting berth when the Cobblers head to Cheltenham Town on Tuesday.

January signing Mark Marshall, who was many people's man of the match against both Port Vale and Swindon recently, was an unused substitute at the weekend and striker Harry Smith is also back in training.

"This is the time of the season when you want those selection dilemmas," said Curle. "Training will be bright and lively because people will be wanting to get into the team.

"We're now at the business end of the season and we need to put in performances and gain results.

"We don't fear anybody and we accept challenges and you've got to be up for the challenge. There's going to be tackles and there'll be opportunities to play (at Cheltenham) and it's about picking the right time to play and winning challenges."

Curle was full of praise for his players for the way they responded to four successive defeats with Saturday's win over the Grecians.

"The attitude and application of the players has been first class," he added. "They've taken onboard some criticism because of the three defeats we've had.

"In our opinion we should have got points out of those games so we do criticise the players and put demands on them but how they've responded and absorbed the information has been fantastic and credit to them."