Curle will speak to the referee after Hull City's 'squealing' leaves Cobblers frustrated

Referee Alan Young had both sets of players up in arms over some of his decision-making during Saturday's game.

Keith Curle said he plans to have a conversation with referee Alan Young about some of his controversial decisions during Cobblers' 2-0 defeat to Hull City on Saturday.

Young felt the wrath of both sets of players after making some contentious calls as Keane Lewis-Potter and George Honeyman struck the decisive goals at the PTS.

Honeyman's goal was a particularly sore one for the Cobblers to take. Young missed a push on Harry Smith before penalising Ryan Watson despite Town's midfielder winning the ball. Hull then took a quick free-kick and Hakeeb Adelakun slid through Honeyman who made it 2-0.

Curle said afterwards: "If we talked about the decisions that the referee made today, right or wrong, it would take up the majority of this interview because there were a few!

"One of the things that I've learned is that when you want to speak to the officials, you need to do it in the right way and the correct way otherwise it's an appearance to Wembley and a donation to their Christmas fund and I'd rather not give them any more money!

"I asked the referee if I could have a word with him at the end and he said he needed to check the protocols to see where I'm able to speak to him, whether it's in his office or an open environment, so I'm just waiting to find out on that.

"I've got in my mind what I'm going to ask him but depending on the reply, my next question might be completely different. It all came to those defining moments and the two free-kicks because apart from that, it was two evenly-matched teams in terms of possession and chances."

Cobblers were also frustrated by Hull's perceived gamesmanship in the second-half.

"They showed good game management and they squealed with every single challenge and appealed to the referee for every single challenge when sometimes it was no more than a twisted sock," added Curle.

"It's part and parcel of the game. We've getting the reputation of being a very combative team and you either stand up against us and go toe-to-toe with us or you roll over and squeal."