Keith Curle has issued a stern warning to his Northampton Town players; learn your lesson or else.

Speaking to the Northampton Chronicle, the veteran manager has expressed his anger at their recent form in League One. his side were amongst those tipped for a promotion push, but they've twice thrown away a two-goal lead in recent weeks.

They led Crawley 2-0 with 20 minutes to play, but drew 2-2 after conceding a last-gasp own goal. A week later against Morecambe they led 2-0 with 18 minutes on the clock, but conceded twice, the equaliser again coming in the last minute this time courtesy of veteran Kevin Ellison.

"We're learning as a group and sometimes you learn by getting a smack in the face and it's about how you accept that smack in the face," said Curle.

"If you turn the other cheek like we did, you'll get smacked again. No, you get up and you say 'right, we know where we're designed to play and now we need to do it and do it with more quality'."

He went on to add he wasn't looking to issue blame but would ensure anyone not learning the message was withdrawn from practical lessons and left studying from the stands.

"We haven't got a blame culture. Missing chances, not closing people down... we're learning and what we do is we learn and people get on board - or they find themselves learning by watching and not playing."

The Cobblers are currently 13th in the table, three points shy of the top seven.

The Verdict

I think Curle is being harsh here. Yes, they conceded late in both games but they got into good positions and just need to tighten up at the back.

In a really tough division, they've looked decent in their opening fixtures. League One is always notoriously tough and in Scunthorpe and Orient they face opposition that should bring four or six points.

That's going to put them right back in the play-off mix and with a quarter of the season gone, that's a healthy place to be.

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