Curle's tough love leads to positive response and overdue win for Cobblers

Curle and his two captains, Charlie Goode and Nicky Adams, spoke of the 'harsh words' that were exchanged during several team meetings last week in the wake of Town's 3-0 loss at Scunthorpe United.

And it did the trick when Cobblers stopped the rot with victory over Salford as goals from Sam Hoskins and Jordan Turnbull lifted them back up to 15th in Sky Bet League Two.

"We don't shy away from honesty in the changing room and that's one of the big things that came out through last week," said Curle.

"Sometimes you have to be honest and say 'it's not good enough, nowhere near good enough and if you think what you're doing is acceptable, I'll show you because I want more from you'.

"Those are the demands we put on the players as a coaching staff but we do it in an honest way to improve players and that's the environment we're trying to create."

Before the game, Curle had caused a bit of a stir among supporters when he referred to the current campaign as a 'building season' for the Cobblers.

"I'll reiterate what I said before, we're building," he repeated after Saturday's win. "We're building a philosophy and we're building a foundation to work from.

"We have key players still absent but it's a long season and the more players we get back the more we get in a comfortable position and then it's about momentum and building those blocks of runs and getting the rewards.

"The important thing, when you get on a run, how you react if you get a deficit or a defeat and how quickly you get back on track.

"You don't dismantle everything you're try and build. At the minute, we're still building but we're enjoying the process and that's important."