Curle praises forward pair and gives injury update on Sordell

Marvin Sordell was forced off with a head injury on Saturday. Picture: Sharon Lucey

The 27-year-old’s injury-ravaged season took another turn for the worse on Saturday when, making just his fourth start for Northampton since signing in January, he had to be replaced by Andy Williams.

Sordell was challenging for a header as he nodded Sam Hoskins’ cross against the crossbar, with Aaron Pierre turning home the rebound, but the striker was caught by a nasty blow in the aftermath and limped from the field.

Curle sounded upbeat when asked about Sordell’s chances of facing Newport in midweek though, saying: “Marvin will be available for Tuesday. He took a bang to the head but he’s fully aware of things and he didn’t get knocked out.

“The swelling is starting to go down. It went up like a tennis ball on the side of his head so obviously there are concerns, but that’s gone down now.

“Marvin’s in the dressing room, he’s smiling and he’s happy and he’s aware that we’ve won today so that’s pleasing.”

Sordell made a bright start to Saturday’s game and was unlucky not to open his Cobblers account when his header crash against the crossbar before Pierre scrambled in the rebound to open the scoring.

“The fans appreciate him,” added Curle. “His touches bring people into play and he’s using his body well and his positional play has been good. He’s also a goal threat.

“Bearing in mind, he’s a long way short of where he wants to be fitness-wise because of his problems this season - he had one day’s training before he joined us.

“So it was a gamble but the football club backed us in the decision we made because we knew we had a period of time where we could get him fit, get him on the pitch and we’d get the rewards.”

The blow of losing Sordell against Exeter was softened by his replacement Williams, who put in a tireless shift up front and doubled Town’s lead when tapping in a Daniel Powell cross shortly before the hour-mark.

Curle continued: “We got on the front foot in the first-half and handled the departure of Marvin to injury very well because Andy Williams came on and slotted straight into the system.

“A lot of people won’t see the amount of work a centre-forward has to do out of possession when you’re outnumbered in key areas, but he got his reward for his hard work with the goal.”