Curle still looking for Northampton improvement despite third successive win

Posted Sunday, October 27, 2019 by PA

Northampton manager Keith Curle insists his side still have plenty of room for improvement despite notching their third straight victory in beating Cambridge.

The Cobblers’ third 2-0 win in a week was achieved in treacherous conditions at Sixfields as both teams battled persistent rain and a sodden pitch.

But the home side adapted better and made full use of their chances with Harry Smith’s cool finish putting them ahead after 26 minutes before United captain George Taft inadvertently directed the ball into his own net in first-half stoppage time.

Northampton are now just one place from the play-off spots but Curle did not gloss over the negative aspects of his side’s performance, saying: “To be honest it took us 20 minutes to get going and to get the fundamentals of the game right.

“We didn’t get close enough to them in the first half and we didn’t put the ball in behind them and test them and stretch them enough when we had good possession and it took until the goals to settle us down a bit.

“But the pleasing thing is to be able to win ugly because the conditions weren’t the best and players got back late after the Carlisle game in midweek and we had to adjust physically to that.

“In the second half we looked very solid and we carried more of a threat but I still think there’s more to come from us and there’s definitely room for improvement.”

Cambridge manager Colin Calderwood admits he felt “horrified” at the officials after his side’s sixth league defeat of the season, which left them 13th in League Two.

“I thought our start gave us a foundation in the game and we were pretty good in the first period,” said Calderwood.

“We had some invention from set-pieces and we looked as if we might have a way of conjuring a chance in awkward conditions.

“I can’t really complain apart from the moment where we lost the first possession from a throw-in and made a mistake for the first goal.

“We haven’t backed off and we haven’t defended a through ball and had we done that it would have made it a lot harder for their player to score.

“We can be annoyed about ourselves for the first goal but we’re horrified by the officials for the second one. It’s definitely offside and it was also a foul beforehand.

“We looked like we could have scored in the second half and we had a couple of half-chances but I’d have liked us to be a bit more dangerous and until you get one goal back you’re never in the game.”