KEITH Curle accepts Andy Williams was extremely lucky to net Northampton Town’s match-winning goal against Swindon Town last night, following a catastrophic error from the linesman.

Williams was in a clear-cut offside position when a long ball forward was flicked on by Cobblers’ Ryan Watson with 22 minutes of the game remaining.

Upon receiving the ball, Williams understandably played to the whistle and crashed his unchallenged close-range effort off the underside of Luke McCormick’s crossbar to put the visitors a goal ahead.

Richie Wellens claimed after the final whistle that the game’s linesman stated to Swindon players after the goal that Watson didn’t touch the long ball – meaning Williams wasn’t in an offside position at the time the ball was punted forward.

The error reduced Swindon to their first League Two loss of the season, and dropped them to seventh in the table with seven points secured from four games.

Curle admitted after the game his men were fortunate to get away with the controversial goal.

He said: “I’d say he (Andy Williams) was slightly more than a tad offside.

“But we’re still due a bit of luck – the harder you work, the luckier you get.

“There was some frustration in the first half, we thought we could get Sam Hoskins one-vs-one with one of Swindon’s defenders on the edge of the box.

“Our frustration from the first half is that everything worked well and we got the ball to Sam, but he shot too early.

“We looked solid, we looked resilient and looked hungry.”

Williams’ goal secured Northampton their first win of the season – following defeats to Walsall and Macclesfield with a draw against Port Vale sandwiched between.

Defeat to Macclesfield at the weekend proved particularly hard for Curle, who said the past four days epitomises the job as a football manager.

He added: “Within a few days, you get the defeat, frustration, anger and annoyance of a result at home – and it’s all on you.

“But you’ve still got to make good decisions – brave decisions – and stick to your beliefs.

“We have the makings to be a competitive squad in this division. The players were told the demands I put on them weren’t met.

“They accepted the criticism, and showed (against Swindon) what hard work can earn you.”