Curle 'won't give acting lessons' to his players but admits Cobblers need to be more 'streetwise'

Keith Curle does not intend to give his players 'acting lessons' but admits they might have to be more 'streetwise' to avoid being on the wrong end of refereeing decisions this season.

Charlton Athletic followed the lead of Hull City on Saturday when they came to the PTS and dabbled in the dark arts to frustrate the Cobblers and leave with a hard-earned 2-0 victory.

The Addicks, and Paul Smyth in particular, seemed determined to get Luka Racic sent off with a couple of theatrical tumbles, and they were also fortunate not to concede a first-half spot-kick for a foul on Danny Rose.

Curle was no stranger to the uglier side of the game as a player and he admits his team might need to wise up to the tricks of the opposition in the future, although perhaps not to the same lengths that Charlton went to.

"I did know how to bend the rules and I knew how to manipulate certain situations and that's exactly what Charlton did on Saturday," said Curle.

"I'm not saying they cheated and I'm not saying they tried to get our player sent off deliberately but their reactions to contact meant they earned free-kicks that were not free-kicks. When we had good pressure on the ball, they interrupted the play."

Alan McCormack and Charlie Goode were the type of players who would regularly get in the faces of referees last season, but both left the club in the summer and that has left some questioning whether the Cobblers are now too 'nice' on the pitch.

"You're never going to get a streetwise referee but I know and I understand that they give what they see or what their interpretation of it is and I'm not going to give our lads acting lessons because I think we have a very honest bunch," continued Curle.

"But within that honesty, there can be some gamesmanship where you can earn a free-kick and some referees seem to give you one. We will always be honest and that comes from the character we've got in the changing room. We've got a very honest group and a very competitive group, but we also need to be streetwise."

Away from the referee, Curle felt his side could easily have taken something out of Saturday's game had they made more of the attacking positions they found themselves in.

"We had chances to get the ball in the box but we didn't want to float it in," he added. "We wanted to slam balls across the box like Christopher Missilou did in the first-half because they have big centre-halves.

"Sammy had a chance in the first-half and again in the second so there were positives to take out of the game. We nullified their threats, but we're still a work in progress."