Curle hails Northampton’s show of character

Keith Curle praised his Northampton players for showing their “personality” during their 3-0 win over Grimsby.

A double from Callum Morton did the damage at Blundell Park after an early opener from Charlie Goode, with Elliot Grandin and Billy Clarke passing up good chances for Grimsby.

It was a result that moved Northampton up to sixth in the League Two standings.

Curle said: “We showed them the respect they deserved with their recent results, but then it was all about us and what we did.

“I challenged them and demanded to see their personality – both in possession and out of possession. That means, out of possession, we needed to work hard and be aggressive.

“We needed to have that discipline and understanding of where we want the ball to go and the desire to go and get it back. In possession, we needed to have that personality of can we be brave with it?

“You have to get the fundamentals right and make sure you have got that level of respect. It gives you a platform to work from.

“We knew we could cause them problems but we had to make sure we stopped them from playing. They showed a bit of respect to us as well by changing their personnel and that probably affected them with their rhythm.”

In blustery conditions, the visitors were quickest to settle and took the lead inside eight minutes when Goode fired past Sam Russell.

Morton made it two when he eyed up a gap and picked his spot with precision.

Grandin had two good chances amid a wave of Grimsby pressure, and Clarke dragged one wide before missing the target once again when presented with an open goal during the closing stages.

Morton then rubber-stamped all three points with a low finish six minutes from time.

Grimsby manager Ian Holloway added: “We huffed and puffed and they blew our house down, didn’t they?

“We knew they were good at set-plays. We talked about that and practised them, but you have still got to deliver that and they were very, very good at them.

“They were very, very brave because they know they are good at it.

“It’s all about chances. They pinned us in, they got two and at half-time it should have been 2-2, but it wasn’t. That’s as poor as we’ve finished since I’ve been here.

“When I show the lads the breakaways we had and the chances we had, you can’t afford to miss them – not in this league and against a team as successful as Keith’s are.”