Interim boss Richie Wellens heaped praise on his team following yesterday’s 1-2 win away at Portsmouth.
Eoin Doyle, who Wellens claimed was ‘injured’ before the game, netted two goals to win the game comfortably for Latics, despite a nervy ending.
After the game, Wellens said: “I am gutted for the Oldham fans that were at home and didn’t see that performance because that was top quality football today.
“That was in terms of the way we played, the way we moved the ball, the reactions and pressing high and I’m just gutted that more people didn’t see it.
“To come here, and at times, toy with them, I really enjoyed it.
“It was my first experience the other night but today I was a lot more relaxed because of the way the lads played and I thought we were excellent.”
Asked what pleased him most about the performance, the interim boss replied: “The confidence to come to a big ground like this, get the ball from the back and play through the thirds to try and create chances.
“They started pressing us a bit more and we just hit Doyle and Davies with clever balls so the lads adapted well to what we were asking them.
“We just backed off in the last eight minutes of injury time but we got the win.”
Wellens is certainly staking his claim for the managerial position at the club. “That’s all I can do,” he explained.
“If I would have lost both games, I would have had no chance, no matter how we have played.
“In English football, all people care about are results, and at the minute, that’s all I care about because I had to buy myself some time to try and get the job.
“Going forward, I want to get the performances like that every week.
“Sometimes when you are trying to coach and manage players, you can’t influence the result because you might miss chances and someone might make a mistake but if our performances are consistent every week then it will stand us in good stead.”
Doyle has scored four goals in his last two games for Latics and Wellens was full of praise for his striker.
“I love Doyle to bits,” he said. “He has good work rate, I love his character and his finishing and he makes clever runs.
“He is a top player and he is too good for League One.”